DB tweens Parth Sane and Kaydn Park are on individual missions to help make the world that little bit better. Elizabeth Kerr reports
PHOTOS BY Baljit Gidwani – www.evoqueportraits.com
Parth Sane is going to reduce tennis’ environmental impact. Kaydn Park is going to contribute to popular football coach Christian Romano’s cancer treatment. The 11-year-old Discovery College students spent the better part of their summers serving the community in some form. No one would hold it against them if they wanted to sit at home and play video games in climate-controlled rooms, but Parth and Kaydn opted for a more active school break.
Tennis player Parth’s project is Every Ball Matters (www.everyballmatters.com) , a programme designed to collect, reuse and repurpose tennis balls and the cans they come in. Trail runner Kaydn started fundraising for Christian’s treatment about two weeks after the 28-year-old HK Dragons Football Club coach was diagnosed in mid-June. “When he dropped into practice, he always made me and the other kids feel happy. He’s a nice guy and a great coach,” recalls Kaydn. “When we heard about his diagnosis and that he had no medical insurance we got to talking about it, and I thought I would help him, and then thought about what I did best.”
That statement could be applied equally to both boys. They have more in common than school and community activism. Both are avid readers with imaginative tastes. Parth is a fan of The Mysterious Benedict Society and Harry Potter, and he’s currently catching up on Trollhunters. Kaydn recently discovered Enter the Dragon, and lights up at the prospect of Game of Death. He has thoughts about Jungle Cruise: “Why couldn’t the guy do anything to himself about the curse? Can’t they do any healing spells? Or a protection spell for his daughter? I know what they were trying but they could have made the curse part a bit more realistic.”
Despite their youth, or perhaps because of it, both Kaydn and Parth have very definite plans for the future. Kaydn is looking at a career in mathematics – “give me some difficult questions and some time and I’ll figure it out” – and Parth is aiming for a career in tennis with the ATP.