Times of Eswatini

Nomination­s deadline looms

- (With Dumisani Ntiwane ESRC Media Officer)

SUNDAY greetings! The Lord is good all the time. As the nomination deadline for nominees into the Eswatini National Sports Awards looms, we expect the country’s National Sports Associatio­ns to play their part.

Excellence is rewarded. It is therefore a must for them to come up with the names of the athletes they think deserve the gongs. Yes, we at t the Eswatini Sports and Recreation Council (ESRC) will be rewarding excelling athletes, coaches and teams for the stellar job they have done since January, 2020 to December, 2022. The recognitio­n’s success however, it is worth saying depends largely on the associatio­ns playing their role.

Deadline for nomination­s is this coming Friday, February 17. Emails that can be used for this very important exercise; zama@sportscoun­cil.org.sz and or ntiwane@sportscoun­cil.org.sz. No associatio­n should be left out because by so doing one would be denying the athletes their basic right to recognitio­n and reward.

We have said it in the recent past, that we also note the sacrifices by a majority of our sports leaders. These are the people usually elected during Annual General Meetings (AGMs) then find themselves stuck with nowhere to go, as members disappear after the AGM and elections, until the next election.

These sports leaders then tend to sacrifice their time, family resources and a lot of other things in their bid to run the respective sports codes effectivel­y. We salute these, our unsung heroes. These are the people that deserve the praise but they are hardly recognised by the sports movement. It is their time as well now.

The Awards are here to Chan all that. So it goes without saying that our associatio­ns should come to the party by sending their nomination­s on time before it’s too late. Remember, only National, Regional, Continenta­l, and or World Games excelling athletes stand a chance of making it. So now nations should be realistic.

Podium finishes our target

The above assertion should not take anyone by surprise really because we have said it for so long now. Our main target going into regional, continenta­l and internatio­nal games, is nothing but a podium finish, hence standards for entries to the nomination­s of our sports awards are simply put, placed very high.

Gone are the days when we tolerated mediocrity. We have ushered in a new era, a dawn which we hope will transport our sports to the next level. We did say the last time that expectatio­ns in the new year will obviously be higher with a number of activities set to light up the local scene. Local and regional sports events will dominate the calendar. These should find us in the right frame of mind. As a sports movement, we should have our ducks in a row.

Reach out to us

Our mini sports awards, that will enable the local winners the opportunit­y to contest the RASA, which are the Regional Annual Sports Awards, present a great opportunit­y for the corporate sector. Come partner with us. There are so many wonderful opportunit­ies that can be explored. We always pride ourselves as being an organisati­on that moves with the times. We have never hidden that. That is why we never hesitate to invite companies to come and partner with the winning team.

Our doors are always wide open and our vibrant marketing team will only be too happy to take more teams on board. Individual­s and companies should feel free to approach us.

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