Cycling Whole Life Coaching for @Risk Children

Prochorus Cycling continues to stay grounded in its vision, using the cycling, mentoring and education as a vehicle, through holistic programs to uplift, uphold and walk journeys with young people helping them to grow spiritually, physically, mentally, socially and environmentally.

With the numbers of kids growing from the previous terms, our program has been really working well on accommodating the children educationally, sport-wise (cycling) and with mentorship. At cycling we understand that this is our vehicle to change lives, uplift young people and promote better decision making, in that case we fully understand that not all kids are going to be professional cyclists, But we know that every child will one day grow to be an adult who will have responsibilities so in that case the main focus is building their character. This shifts our focus, not to focus on the cyclist but the character of the cyclist and the fruits of that planted seed will be the cyclist taking their cycling talent seriously.

This term, we had a total number of 24 registered riders who are confident on taking it to the mountains, categorized in entry level, semi and advanced. In addition to that we had a around 13 children who ride single  speed bikes who are still finding their feet on the bikes. With the help of the volunteers they make it easy for us to manage the big cycling group we have. We are deeply expressing our gratitude to their dedication, sacrifice and willingness to give their time to make such great impact.

Events

This term felt quite short, but with all that took place, it was very full of excitement. This term we had #4 schools MTB event and #5 which is the last 2026 schools race.

#4 Schools MTB race – 22 August.

Held at Malmesbury, where 11 children competed in their age categories, the day was filled with fun, great performance, and determination to do their best.

#5 Schools MTB race – 05 September.

Taking place at Durbanville at Bloemendal Wine Estate, 14 of our riders took part in the final Western Cape schools league event for 2026, filled with smiles, hills, fast singletrack and enjoyment.

Mini Champions MTB Race – 24 September.

In the township of Kayamandi, which is a community within Stellenbosch, the team competed in the Mini Champions Race for schoolchildren. The course was quite challenging, with some very steep hill and downhill sections, but they enjoyed it very much, and we landed a second-place podium.  

Cycling and Mentorship lessons

This term we focused on a character-building program titled “Faithful and Fruitful”. The Faithful and Fruitful programme is a cycling-based mentorship approach that uses the experiences of mountain biking to help young people develop character, responsibility, self-awareness, and intentional decision-making.

The series focused on the main 3 stages:

1. Attachment: Where am I rooted?
2. Attunement: What am I listening to?
3. Alignment: How do I respond?

Cycling Mentorship Philosophy

The philosophy behind the program is that young people learn values most effectively when they can experience them, reflect on them, and then apply them to everyday life. Cycling provides a natural environment for this because riders encounter challenges that require character traits like: patience, discipline, attentiveness, perseverance, teamwork, the ability to respond to guidance.

Here is an explanation of the three connected stages:

Attachment – Where am I rooted?
Learners consider the foundations and influences that shape who they are. In cycling, a rider depends on their bike, equipment, team, and coach. In life, young people are similarly shaped by the people, environments, values, and relationships they remain connected to. The focus is on recognising which influences are helping them grow.

“Attunement” – What am I listening to?
Cycling requires a rider to pay attention to the trail, their surroundings, their body, other riders, and instructions from a coach. Through activities involving instructions, distractions, and problem-solving, learners experience the difference between simply hearing something and actively paying attention. This develops attentiveness, discernment, humility, and the willingness to learn.

Alignment – How do I respond?
The final stage connects awareness to action. A rider may understand an instruction but still has to make the decision to apply it on the trail. Similarly, personal growth requires young people to translate what they have learned into their choices, habits, relationships, and behaviour.

The cycling environment therefore becomes more than a sporting activity. The trail becomes a learning environment, where challenges, mistakes, successes, teamwork, and coaching provide real situations through which values can be explored, discussed and shaped.

The mentorship sessions then provide space to slow down and reflect on those experiences. What happened during cycling becomes an opportunity to ask deeper questions about life: Why did I respond that way? What influenced my decision? Did I listen? How did I handle frustration? What can I do differently?

This creates a cycle of learning:

Experience - Reflection - Understanding – Application - Growth

The overall philosophy can therefore be summarised as:

What we attach ourselves to influences us. What we pay attention to shapes us. What we practise through our choices becomes part of who we are.

Through the combination of cycling and mentorship, Faithful and Fruitful aims to develop young people who are grounded, attentive, teachable, responsible, resilient, and intentional about the people they are becoming.

Success stories

Throughout the Mountain-Biking schools league, two particular boys were performing very well, usually being in the top 10 of their age category. One finished the league with an overall 10^th position, and the other 11^th, out of 55 participants. We celebrate their dedication.In the same category (Sub-Junior boys), Prochorus was the third-best team in the whole Western Province. Unfortunately, having one very strong team doesn’t qualify us to participate in the National Finals. We also celebrate that the number of volunteers has increased, making it much easier to manage the cycling groups this term. We had 6 volunteers who consistently came to assist with cycling.

Love to Read Program

The Love to Read Program is fundamentally about building the whole learner, not just getting them through books. In this term, we have started to make reading a priority before we get on our bikes. This program is mainly built not just to make children love books, but to grow their reading, speaking, and thinking skills, and to articulate thoughts and express themselves through language.

This program contains:

1. Reading — Learn to read well.
   Build accuracy, fluency and confidence so learners can access information and enjoy books.
2. Comprehension — Read to understand.
   Help learners move beyond saying the words to actually understanding what they mean.
3. Critical Thinking — Learn to think about what you read.
   Teach learners to question, connect ideas, identify problems and give reasons for their thoughts.
4. Listening — Learn to understand others.
   Develop attention, patience and the ability to understand spoken information.
5. Vocabulary — Learn the language of reading.
   Give learners more words so they can understand, express themselves and communicate with confidence.
6. Writing — Learn to express your thoughts.
   Help learners turn their understanding and ideas into clear sentences and meaningful responses.
7. Speaking — Learn to communicate your ideas.
   Build confidence in expressing thoughts clearly, respectfully and with evidence.

Challenges

We’ve seen that we need to make the Love to Read program a consistent priority, since reading with comprehension is such a critical need. We’ve also had the challenge of having a very full daily schedule, which adds pressure to every part of the program. Managing the Love to Read project has been challenging, with a large number of children to support and keep up with their progress, but thanks to one very dedicated volunteer, who is a professional educator and attends religiously every week, this has been manageable.

Volunteers

We are so very grateful for every single moment invested by our volunteers. In this term, we had 6 volunteers with the cycling program and 4 volunteers focused on the mentoring aspect. The Prochorus Aftercare Centre, where all our riders attend for daily educational support, is not included in our reporting on this platform, but it is worth mentioning that we have over 30 volunteers at the Centre on a weekly basis, dedicated to the academic and intellectual development of the children of this community. Thank you!