tawandamusarurwa
The Art of Sport
Arthur Choga
THIS column, “The Art of Sport”, has been running for a year now.
It is a milestone we celebrate with all the great readers who have followed the column from day one, and, most importantly, with the sportspersons who have made it all possible.
We have covered a range of sports, including some outside the most common space occupied by football, rugby, cricket, athletics and tennis. We are glad to have gone off the beaten track and looked at cross country, road running, badminton, show jumping, pool, swimming and hockey, among other sports.
We will continue to explore different sporting spaces that make up the 54 or so sporting codes in this great nation.
“The Art of Sport” prays for the day when sportspersons in Zimbabwe stop begging for support and the day officials of national associations no longer need to go down on their knees to get sponsorship for kits.
We believe sport is business.
It can build on its strengths to become the business it has become globally.
How do we change the game?
How can we all come together and make our athletes feel they are doing a good thing?
Sportspersons are among the best-paid professionals around the world.
However, when it comes to our own, we tend to look down on them.
It is sad to hear tales of former sports stars who have nothing to show for their many years of service.
The disparaging comments people make about them do not take into account the fact that sport in this country can be cruel and thankless.
The beginning of a positive future for our sports is a shift in mindset by all stakeholders.
We must stop seeing our sportspeople as casual hobbyists out to spend an afternoon entertaining us because they have nothing better to do.
These are serious people who have chosen a profession in sport. As they sweat it out on the pitch, court, track or field, they have dreams of being successful and making a living for themselves and their families.
I only played sport in high school and never got to take it any further.
Growing up, sport was considered a dead end, and it was believed one was better off pursuing education.
I had an opportunity to be a sports administrator with the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) and CAPS United.
With both entities, I experienced both the potential for excellence and the minefield of the relationship that exists between corporates and sport. This is especially true when it comes to football. My time at CAPS United coincided with the interest of a Belgian sports marketing company in the club.
The experience of preparing a corporate arrangement, coupled with the outstanding planning presented by a technical team headed by Charles Mhlauri, helped me immensely to gain a full appreciation of how a football club can successfully run.
And success did follow.
For the last 11 years, I have been in corporate public relations, where partnerships with different organisations, including sporting institutions, are a key part of the work.
I have spent time in the media, reporting on sports, which I still do to this day.
This experience has shaped my appreciation of the needs of sporting bodies and their affiliates.
All this has helped bring this column to life.
Through “The Art of Sport”, we intend to bring the needs of sporting organisations to the table, as well as corporate concerns.
We also intend to explore policy issues affecting the growth and commercial expansion of sport, and discuss the role the Government, fans, the corporate world and, most importantly, players and the technical and administrative arms of different sports can all play to build a vibrant and sustainable sporting industry in Zimbabwe.
I have heard some say “this has been tried before”. That is all well and good.
It does not, however, mean we should stop trying.
Botswana has just celebrated a 20-year-old athlete, Letsile Tebogo, after he won a silver medal in the men’s 100m race at the World Championships.
Tebogo’s silver medal is a sign of the country’s athletics’ programme starting to bear fruit.
Olympic 800m silver medallist Nijel Amos, Olympic 400m finalist Amanthle Montsho, Baboloki Thebe in the 400m event, trailblazing Isaac Makwala in the 400m and the Botswana 4x400m relay team have all become regulars on the continental and global scene.
It is not about the population size, which happens to be another tired argument that tends to do the rounds.
I brought up Botswana deliberately as the country had a population of 2,5 million people in 2021.
Their athletics federation started in 1972 and was only registered in 1979.
With a single-minded commitment to athletics, they have set out to build the sport and recently hosted a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet in Gaborone on April 29 this year.
The event featured multiple Olympic and world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, serial champion Kirani James of Grenada and other high-profile athletes.
We have to start viewing our athletes beyond potential and entertainment.
And the sky is the limit if we are deliberate and determined about what we do and want to achieve.
Here is to making it happen.
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