Sliz target top British athletics coach
THE Sports Leaders Institute of Zimbabwe (Sliz) is working round the clock to bring revered Englandbased Zimbabwean track and field coach Stanley “Fresh” Madiri to its annual summer camp next week.
The fourth edition of the Sliz Summer Camp is set for November 24-26 in Masvingo.
Russell Mhiribidi, the Sliz president, is hopeful they will secure Madiri as their main speaker at the camp.
“Our state of preparedness is very encouraging and we’re ready for the fourth edition of the annual summer camp. We are going back to Masvingo who hosted us well in 2016 when we had the winter camp,” said Mhiribidi.
“We are trying to get one of our own who has made it internationally, Stanley Madiri, to come and be the guest speaker in Masvingo. Madiri is a top athletics speed coach in the UK and has trained Olympians. We don’t want him to speak on a prescribed subject, but to share with us everything about sport development and what he has seen throughout his journey,” he said.
Madiri is rated as one of the best coaches in England after he helped a number of British athletes scale greater heights on the track under his consultancy Speed Dynamiks, an athletics club based at a High Performance Centre called Lee Valley in North London.
The 51-year-old Zimbabwean coach has been coaching in England for the past 15 years
He has periodically worked with top British sprinters such as Olympic and World 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu and Commonwealth and European 200m silver medallist Jodie Williams.
Disiree Henry and Asha Phillip, who were part of Great Britain’s team that won the women’s 4X400m relay at the Rio Olympics in 2016 are among the athletes Madiri has worked with.
Meanwhile, Mhiribidi said registration for the fourth edition of the Sliz Summer Camp has opened and by lunch time yesterday, 160 participants had signed up.
“Registration is underway and what is encouraging is that participants from the education sector are among those that have so far registered. Right now we have more than 160 participants and we are looking at having about 350 people attending this year’s summer camp. At this rate we will surpass our target of 350 and we encourage those interested to get in touch with our officers,” Mhiribidi said.
Last year’s summer camp held in Nyanga had 320 participants drawn from colleges, universities, secondary and primary schools as well as sports officers from government arms such as the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services and Zimbabwe Republic Police.
Football clubs officials and members of sports associations have also attended the camps in the past. — @ZililoR.