We still need more camps: Nhubu
AFTER completing their second Youth Olympics high performance camp recently in Bulawayo, National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (NAAZ) director in charge of youth Briad Nhubu says they still need more of such meetings as they continue with their build-up for next year’s Games.
The target for the youth is mainly the African Youth Games in Algiers, Algeria in July. The continental Games are going to serve as the qualifier for the Youth Olympic Games scheduled for October in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Fourteen athletes have been shortlisted for the Games, with some drawn from the team that participated at this year’s IAAF World Under18 Championships in Kenya.
These include Donovan Mutariswa, who is based in South Africa, Masciline Watama and Simbarashe Maketa.
This was their second camp and it gave the coaches and athletes time to look at the preparation phase, general conditioning and exercising to remain in shape.
Nhubu said although they are making some progress, they still need to work on certain areas.
“Generally, they showed some significant improvement in terms of performance.
“However, we have made an observation that they still need more in terms of strength training because that’s a key area in terms of performance.
“Most of our athletes when they are out there don’t have the proper facilities like the gym where they can do some of the strength and conditioning exercises.
“So we are saying from what we have observed, we will try to make a follow-up through the school-based coaches, where we encourage them to work on the aspect of strength,” Nhubu said.
With most athletes already geared up for the new season’s competitions, Nhubu pointed out that schools competitions will be key for the athletes as part of their preparatory work.
“Since we are at the beginning of the new season, we are going to have some pre-competitions, where we expect them to participate. So we want them to now start working on speed endurance and specific speed.
“We still need to have other camps and also we are going to take advantage of the schools programme, where they will participate from the low level, where they have the schools inter-house competitions, they come to the zones, they go for districts, provinces, and then national.
“The focus now is on the event specific (training programme) for each individual. So what we are doing now is we will be crafting programmes and send them to work with the schoolbased coaches.
The national association made some inroads this year, with noticeable improvements in performance by the youths and juniors.
Zimbabwe had one of their athletes, Vimbai Maisvoreva, finishing sixth in the girls’ 800m at the World Under-18 Championships in Kenya.
At the African Junior Championships in Algeria, they picked nine medals, including three gold.
Nhubu feels the camps have been helpful and would continue working with the coaches in schools in their quest to make sure their athletes make the grade for next year’s competitions.
“It’s quite helpful in the sense that it helps to have an overview of the general outlook of the athletes.
“We are expecting them to represent us basing on their previous performances. And also to determine the areas which we have strength.
“For example we look at the performance of sprinters and also we are looking at the performance of the middle-and-long distances’ athletes.
“So it’s good time that we can tell where we are lacking and where we are almost doing well,” said Nhubu.
Simbarashe Maketa (200m and 400m), Donovan Mutariswa (100m), Ronald Muchichwa (high jump), Brian Ndlovu (400m), Nicholas Schmolke (javelin), Elias Mungofa (800m).
Dorothy Kavhumbura (triple jump), Mascline Watama (100m and 200m), Emmaculate Mapurisa (400m and 800m), Langathani Dube (3000m), Abigail Chaturuka (100m/200m), Nicole Chikosi (100m and 200m), Vanessa Matimbe (400m and 800m), Privilege Chikara.