adminLovemore Dube Sports Editor
CALLS for more funding for sport at schools and the establishment of a sports ministry increased at the weekend.
The call was made by headmasters who accompanied two Zimbabwe teams for the Southern African school ball games championships in Windhoek, Namibia.
Zimbabwean primary and secondary schools took part in the basketball, netball, soccer and volleyball championships in which they scooped three gold and seven silver medals.
Travel arrangements that saw the team on the road for 41 hours on the 1 800km long drive, did not dampen the mood of the young athletes.
The athletes would sporadically burst into song and dance to keep their morale high during the long drive in which they had a good view of the Zambian and Namibian countryside including game parks.
Probably seeing the desert for the first time, the Orange River one of the region’s biggest, swamps and the mighty Zambezi River a few hundred metres from source were enthralling experiences.
“We have the base as schools for sport to start from, nobody else has. We are incapacitated by lack of support from government and the corporate sector. We have had to travel under very difficult circumstances just to expose these kids. There is no support from national associations and government and this is the best under the circumstances we could do.
We are happy that our athletes came out here and won medals proving that we have the talent as schools since we have the kids at our disposal,” said Johnson Madhuku the chairman of the National Association of Secondary School Heads.
He said with enough resources, schools could churn out more stars to feed future national teams.
Madhuku said associations were getting stars from the schools network who would have been identified at primary level and developed through high school. While that was the natural path to take, Madhuku said there was need for activities of either to dovetail into each other through technical expertise and funding programmes.
“We have more contact time with the kids, we identify them and later they move to more professional sport. As schools we do not get anything out of that despite all we would have done in shaping sportspersons’ future. As teachers and schools we are well equipped to deal with kids,” said Madhuku.
He cried foul over situations where national age-group teams were dominated by players outside the school system. Events like the Copa CocaCola he said were perfect mediums for national team players to be identified.
“These are national age-group competitions where Zifa could come and identify talent, we often wonder when we see none of our players from the Copa Cocacola tournament not in the Under-17s team. That age group is made up of the school going age players,” said the Pamushana High School headmaster.
Madhuku said his association would explore ideas on how to grow schools sport.
“We are open to suggestions, we want to grow and make schools sport viable. There have been suggestions that we employ a sports desk full time, that is subject to funding issues so we will explore every possible way forward,” said Madhuku.
It is common to find players who left school many years ago still playing in the Under-17 teams when most students write their ‘O’ Levels at 16 or 17.
His deputy, Arthur Maphosa believes schools can surpass their productivity in sport.
“We have meager resources from which to deliver. I have no doubt if we were financed like other countries we will do better. Our athletes came to Namibia and proved that,” said Maphosa who heads Gwanda High School.
Maphosa said it is important for the schools to prepare early for these competitions. He said next year they would probably make a better impression as they would have more time to prepare.
“We are starting now to prepare for next year. Part of that is to encourage schools and parents to get passports early for any promising kid. At my school no kid fails to travel to international events because we encourage parents to assist their children as sport could be their chosen career path,” said Maphosa.
Mazowe High School headmaster Thompson Katanda also bemoaned the lack of sponsorship.
“I believe we have good talent and what we just need is funding so that we expose these children. Sport is good for their health and could be a profession to the very gifted,” said Katanda whose secondary schools boys and girls basketball teams won gold in Namibia.
Nkululeko Zidla who is the Inyathi High School headmaster, said schools sport was a basket case.
“We will appreciate what ever help we get. As schools we cannot go it alone we need associations, companies and government to help us travel to these tournaments,” said the man who also is the provincial volleyball association chairman.
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