The People Make the Place: Zeina’s “Ours” Story

The Centre has been a second home to me. Everyone is so welcoming, and I’ve made some of my closest friends there. From the moment I walked in, it just felt like a place I wanted to be.

I’m Zeina, 15 years old, and I’m a part of the Greenhouse Centre community. I joined the table tennis programme seven years ago, and I’m happy to say I’m currently sitting inside the top 15 national rankings for U15 girls.

The Centre is important for my growth as a table tennis player, but also as a person.

Over time, I’ve also built a great relationship with Maria, my Coach-Mentor from Greenhouse.

Maria is there for people when no one is. If I have news to share, good or bad, one of my first reactions is, ‘I need to tell Maria!’ I want to tell her when I’ve got a place at the university I want to go to, when I’ve done well on my exam. When there’s an issue, I don’t even have to talk sometimes. She can just read my mind!

I’ve learned some really big lessons while I’ve been part of the Greenhouse community. The biggest one for me was understanding that failure is the key to success.

If I have one bad training session, one bad tournament, one exam that didn’t go well, that doesn’t mean it’s all over. You have to make mistakes to know how to move forward and get better.