adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
WHEELCHAIR basketball and tennis players at Danhiko have been given the opportunity to improve their skills under the guidance of six Japanese coaches who have been conducting coaching clinics since Wednesday.
The coaches, led by Masakatsu Oyama, director of international liaison department in the Japanese Paralympic Committee, have been conducting the coaching courses for the past three days.
The clinics, facilitated by the Japanese Embassy, will be followed by a two-day seminar for coaches, teachers and athletes on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The other coaches are Yasuhiro Jimbo and Nantaka Sakata for basketball while Yoshiro Nakazawa, Nobuhiro Tachibana and Mamabu Aso are working with the tennis players.
Speaking to The Herald yesterday, Oyama said the programme was meant to help develop the upcoming athletes to reach their full potential and train the teachers and coaches so that there will be continuity after they return to Japan.
“We are very happy to come here. We want to promote further development of the players.
“Unfortunately, some of the wheelchairs are broken so later on we will see how we can repair those.
“It’s a basic course, how to use a wheelchair, how to handle and operate a wheelchair in sport, in a basketball game and how to move quickly and then get a shot.
“We are going to promote sport for the Paralympic Games all over the world.
“If there are financial issues, teachers’ issues and coaches’ issues then it’s difficult, so we want to do our best to support. Our aim is they will participate in the Paralympic Games in 2020.
“We can’t stay long but we can train the coaches to train the athletes. We hope next year we will be able to come here again.
“We want to improve the athletes. We think Zimbabwe will be a hub of other African countries. We will meet the Zimbabwe Paralympic Committee tomorrow and during the Danhiko Games some of us will stay here and do a demonstration on para-sports,” said Oyama.
In 2013 the Japanese Embassy built three tennis courts at Danhiko and the coaching clinics came at the right time with some of the athletes set to participate in the annual Paralympic Games to be held from October 1 to 4.
Danhiko Games organising committee chairperson Godfrey Majonga said they were grateful to the Japanese Embassy for their continued support.
“We are very grateful for the initial coaching clinic. The response has been very good from the athletes and from their teachers and trainers and they have already identified some potential athletes – one in wheelchair basketball and two in tennis.
“And they are just saying if they find trainers they will make it on the international scene and hopefully they will be in Japan in 2020 for the Paralympic Games.
“We have a long standing relationship with the Japanese Embassy and JICA, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.
“So we have had some volunteers and the Japanese provided the tennis courts for us in 2013.
“We are trying to pursue another project with the Japanese, so they came in pursuit of that project and while they were here they saw our facilities and we got talking.
“One of them was from the Japan Paralympic Committee so they discussed about possibilities and they then went back and organised it and we got here.
“It’s really encouraging, it’s recognition of the work that we really have been doing in Paralympic sport,” Majonga said.
The coaching clinic attracted 28 athletes and 10 officials, with two athletes coming from Masvingo.
Online Reporter