Premier Soccer League teams hail SLIZ course
HARARE City chairman Alois Masepe believes Zimbabwe have the potential to become a sporting powerhouse if administrators acquire requisite management skills.
Speaking on the sidelines of the joint West Virginia University-Sport Leaders Institute of Zimbabwe’s International Sports Management courses which ended in Harare on Wednesday, Masepe noted that such training was essential for sport development in the country.
The two institutions have a Memorandum of Understanding and this week they ran the second of their annual program which saw 200 stakeholders drawn from across the sporting divide including schools and top-flight basketball and soccer clubs taking part.
West Virginia University’s associate professor Floyd Jones presided over the program.
Premiership leaders FC Platinum, CAPS United, Dynamos, Ngezi Platinum Stars, Chapungu and Harare City were all represented.
And Masepe, one of the most respected sport administrators in the game hailed the efforts by stakeholders to try and acquire the much-needed leadership knowledge from the internationally-acclaimed institutions.
“Attending such kind of courses with reputable institutions like West Virginia University and the Sport Leaders Institute of Zimbabwe is the way to go for the good of our sport,” said Masepe.
“Sport is increasingly becoming scientific and as a country we need to keep up with the ever changing trends.
“Sometimes we are failing to do well in sport not because we cannot perform well but because we may not be doing the right thing with the resources at our disposal,”
The Harare City boss, whose team had marketing manager Osborn Maranda at the course said the intensive program which he has already undertaken in his own capacity, helps administrators in appreciating and fully utilising what they have.
“You look at the environment you will be operating in, the resources, the weather and those nitty-gritties amongst other factors. You therefore need to utilise the advantages your locality provides for you in order to obtain the best out of what you have.
“Courses of that nature are particularly important to administrators as they give you an insight of what it is like managing clubs and sporting institutions in such a manner that you will achieve desired results by maximizing on what you have.
“They demystify a lot of unworkable theories and equip leaders with modern techniques when implementing policies.
“For example, we have seen a lot of clubs from different sport codes crumbling due to lack of funding just because we all think that money can only be sourced from the corporate world,”
Masepe said it was high time sporting institutions move with the times and learn to be innovative in accordance with the localities they are based.
“There are so many ways a club can sustain itself without necessarily knocking on the corporate doors. Actually, when a club proves that they can formulate some models which can generate revenue for the team, the corporate world can easily come in.
“By so doing, we can create stability and athletes will concentrate on their job as they would be motivated and the teams or institutions will be competitive.
“And I understand that is the basis of sport management. Taking care of the clubs, athletes and everything around. I am glad a number of football clubs sent representatives for the course. We wait to see the results on the ground,” Masepe said.
Away from their troubles with the relegation fight, Dynamos sent secretary-general Webster Marechera and vice-chairperson Esther Mawere to the course.
Marechera said the course was enlightening and he hopes to implement some of the things he learnt for the good of DeMbare.
“This is my first time to attend a SLIZ course. It has been an eye-opener and I am grateful to the Dynamos management.
“We are a very big institution and we have a huge potential to generate revenue if we do things the right way.
“The course was very enlightening and I can’t wait for the second level. Sometimes we have doing things wrongly but after the course we now know what is right and what is wrong,”
CAPS United administrator Morton Dodzo and Ngezi Platinum Stars performance analyst Culvin Mavunga, who were attending the Level Two course, echoed Marechera’s sentiments.