Coaches call for more support for emerging athletes

LOCAL athletics coaches believe with proper investment in the sport and access to standard facilities, there is room for improvement when the country competes in major competitions.

Zimbabwe recently competed at the Confederation of African Athletics Under-18 (youth) and Under-20 (junior) Championships in Zambia.

The athletics team picked seven medals at the meet. Faith Dube, who was part of the coaching team for the meet, acknowledged the encouraging performance by the athletes.

However, she pointed out the need for a solid development system for local athletes to match their counterparts.

“I think the most difficult phase that athletes face, it’s the graduation from junior to seniors.

“But if we can give them the platform as an association whereby we groom those who are graduating from junior to seniors, we improve their performance so that they are ready for the bigger stages like the Senior Championships.

“By creating platforms, I mean having to choose — funds permitting — maybe 10 athletes per each province where we say these athletes are under guidance of the association.

“The association needs to monitor the athletes more and avail maybe some funding, and athletes accessing good facilities.

“For example in Bulawayo, having athletes accessing White City, the gyms and everything, and everything paid for. That on its own will improve performance,” said Dube.

The championships presented the youth and junior athletes a chance to compete for honours and also to measure themselves against their counterparts from the continent.

The championships also provided a platform for exposure.

For some of the juniors it was their last year competing at this level as they graduate to the senior level. Another coach Cuthbert Nyasango said more exposure for the youth is critical for their growth.

“My observation is that they need more exposure so that they can improve... So there is a need to come up with a much better approach towards development of youth sport in Zimbabwe, especially the schools’ system where we have athletics only in the first term.

“So my thinking is to maybe have this competition run through the whole year so that we at least continue to work on these athletes for us to get better performance in the next editions.”

Nyasango highlighted the importance of investing in sport when it comes to bridging the gap between juniors and seniors as some of the athletes struggle to make an impact at the higher level.

“I think the gap that we see from juniors to seniors, is now the level of competition will be much stiffer and much higher and also I think what we need to look into is also resources that are being invested in these senior athletes.

“If we compare the level of investment in our senior athletes to our regional counterparts or continental athletes, you will see that there is a lack or we are a bit behind in terms of resources that are allocated to our senior athletes.

“Also, exposure to standard competitions, standard facilities, access to these facilities, that’s some of the things that I think need to be addressed and also to be looked into by all the stakeholders,” Nyasango said.

With Zimbabwe getting most of their medals from field events, another coach Shadreck Chatunga challenged coaches to put more effort towards the development of athletes for field events.

“We are concentrating much on track and road races. But I think coaches should also make a shift to these field events. NAAZ (National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe) have always been providing these on the schedule, but we will have very few participants.

“I think coaches should start putting more effort in trying to identify talent and develop athletes in field events,” said Chatunga.