Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga in Abeokuta, Nigeria
NATIONAL Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president Tendayi Tagara is pleased with the progress they are making in capacity development of coaches and officials for the growth of the sport.
NAAZ have over the years continuously conducted coaching and technical officials courses at various levels to ensure they are up to date with the new trends.
And it was one of the key issues raised by the Confederation of African Athletics at a congress held in Nigeria, just before the start of the Under-18/Under-20 Championships that ended yesterday in Abeokuta.
The courses include those for participants from schools where they draw most of their athletes working with the National Association of Primary Heads and the National Association of Secondary Heads.
Reflecting on some of the highlights from the congress, Tagara said a number of issues were raised and for NAAZ, it looks like they are on track in addressing some of the concerns.
“The major things that were looked at include the world plan and to see how we are working as federations, from the confederation to the regional, then to a federation in terms of implementing the world plan which ends in 2030. It was set by the World Athletics.
“The global plan has got a number of pillars, more people, more participation and more partnerships,” said Tagara.
“Each region must also prepare courses to develop their coaches, to develop their officials.
“The task of development of coaches is now mainly focused on the federation to do so in collaboration with their region like what we do in Zimbabwe.
“I think Zimbabwe was given as a good case study in terms of development of coaches and officials in the meeting.
“We have done a lot in terms of coaches and officials, as a country,” said Tagara.
Another important aspect of the sport that was raised during the congress is the need to increase competitions at regional level.
This comes at a time Zimbabwe is preparing to host the Southern Region Senior Championships in Harare on July 26 and 27 at the University of Zimbabwe.
There is also need for African countries to work together ahead of the 2027 World Championships and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games, saw Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo bag a gold medal in the men’s 200m.
Zimbabwe had two athletes — Tapiwanashe Makarawu and Makanakaishe Charamba — in the final.
Makarawu finished sixth and Charamba was eighth.
“We also talked and agreed on the need to have more competitions. There was a concern that regional competitions are now limited.
“Each region must make sure they host their competitions, senior championships, half marathons, youth and junior championships. All those events must be done.
“There is also need for Africa, as we go to the 2027 World Athletics to unite as a continent, have a group of prospective candidates that have the full backing of the 54 countries.
“So, there is need for unity of purpose as we go to 2027.
“There is also need to look at how best as a continent can we increase statistically from what we took in the last Paris Games for LA 2028,” said Tagara.
They also deliberated on how best the continent could resuscitate training centres in different countries, which will be key in talent development towards elite performance.
On marketing issues, he said: “Marketing is still a challenge, resource mobilisation is still a challenge. Even at the continental level, there is a need to up our marketing so that we retain our top athletes to come to attend our competitions.”
There was concern about athletes changing their citizenship.
“It was a concern that most of our top athletes are ending up in countries in the Middle East, that is a concern.
“We have to find a way of retaining our athletes by having good competitions and resource mobilisation so that our incentives also match those from competitors in Europe and so on.
“I think those were the main things that I agreed on . . . We must be very strong in all the areas I have mentioned,” Tagara said.
