Schools athletics should be all year round

THE first term of every year has always provided those gifted in schools athletics the podium to shine. But times have changed for all sport as they have become part of the multi-US billion dollar industry in Africa and beyond.

There is now need for a change of focus and have it run almost all year round like is the situation now with World Athletics. By numbers, athletics is the most participated in at inter-cluster, district, provincial championships in the country.

A team of athletes representing a province in both the National Association of Primary School Heads and National Association of Secondary School Heads national finals has up to 120 athletes and almost 30 officials.

This allows 1 200 athletes to compete at national level over two days.

This is the largest sporting competition in the country.

With this in mind where even a higher number takes part in the cluster competitions where on an average there are up to 12-15 schools fielding athletes in every event, it is about time that the milestones are kept.

There must be district, provincial and national records kept for posterity and a challenge to participants to try and better those. These can now be used as a yardstick to get to the national and international levels.

Schools sport must now focus more on participants’ times, heights and lengths, checking whether they compare favourably to standing standards that can see athletes qualify for Southern Africa, African and World Championships.

So many opportunities lie ahead for outstanding schools athletes, including getting scholarships at some universities both local and international.

However, we find ourselves still lagging behind with having athletics in the first term only. Athletics being the basis of other sporting disciplines, it is common to see some of the children completely lost to other sporting disciplines in the second and third terms.

Children love adventure and having travelled with school teams and enjoyed the ambiance of some of the players and great camaraderie experience, there is always the urge to want to travel again.

Hence they will try their luck at basketball, football, netball, rugby and volleyball. An all year round programme ensures they are developed for the future consistently as compared to the sporadic manner where they prepare for an event which is not good enough for progressive athlete development.

Against that background it is pleasing to see the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe piling on courses for coaches and event judges. Almost every other six weeks there is a course in Bulawayo and Harare, a very plausible development and teachers tend to be the bulk of the attendees.

Supporting athletics at that tender age is also increasing medal prospects at major events like the Olympics and World Championships.

The young athletes would have gone through a systematic development curriculum from primary school, with exposure events at cluster, district, provincial and national level.

This provides the national association with 1 200 provincial champions to choose from a development team that can be chosen at Under12 and kept as Olympic and World Champions of the future through a programme of retention, release and promotion up to international podium level where only a handful may remain with the development structures with an 8-10-year development cycle.

Schools athletics sport can be used as a pilot project on how structured gold medal attainment can be achieved.

With 1 200 athletes set to travel to Victoria Falls for the Nash Championships on March 19-20 and a similar number on the two days in Masvingo for the primary schools, it is good to see sport contribute to a town’s economy. It is a boost for domestic sports tourism and prayers are that the tourism sector should consider introducing or reviving sports rates.

The future lies in the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe tapping from this low hanging fruit and working with the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee in identifying and nurturing this talent for development into future podium athletes.

The good thing about athletics is that it is good for wellness, a fit body carries a clean mind, entertainment purposes and also provides for employment as uniformed services tend to employ some academically gifted sportspersons.

NAAZ administrators must know that success is not an event but a process and should take advantage of opportunities such as those provided by Naph and Nash programmes.

It is pleasing to note that all athletes that have emerged to be national champions have all come through the schools programme though not well networked to be an association and formal learning institution.