By Stephanie Haan

KENYANSTAR SPENDS 15mins WITH NIKITA DAWDA
She's a 16 year old girl, in form five at Hillcrest School. Nikita is currently ranked 369 in the International Tennis Federation junior rankings as of early this year. For 8 years now, she has been training at the Jim Davis tennis Academy, where her talent in tennis has been nurtured to the level it is now at. Nikita's interest in tennis started in school at Kenton College Academy, which was later encouraged by JD.

Studies and Handball; the balancing act
To many, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. True this may be, much exhibited by the captain of the Strathmore University handball team. David Gathuku was the best student in the 2009 Kenya Certificate of Secondary education (K.C.S.E)

For the 20-year old, born and bred in Nairobi’s Dagoretti Corner, Handball was never known to him until high school. He attended St Hannah’s Preparatory School in Karen from 1997 to 2005) before enrolling at the Mang’u High School.

“The very first time I saw a handball game was during the Mang’u open tournament in early February 2006 when I was in form 1. I had never heard of such a game before but it caught my eye-the speed, the skill, the excitement; and it looked pretty simple”, says David.

“I started off training but I could not immediately make the cut for the first due to inexperience. I was however made captain of the second team after just a month. By the next season I made the first team but as a substitute, then in form 3 I made the starting 7. I was appointed as captain of the main team in my final season when I was in form 4 although I had a recurrent back injury during that season”

David says that balancing sports and study is no rocket science. He syas that too much study clogs and tires the mind, adding that the two, sports and study complement each other.