More schools sport action in 2024

MORE sporting action is expected this year in schools countrywide, with the National Association of School Heads (Nash) president Arthur Maphosa calling on the corporate sector to come on board in support of developing young talent.

Maphosa, in a wide ranging interview, revealed to Zimpapers Sports Hub that they want to cement the already existing ties with some sponsors.

He said they have a huge task of trying to lure new partners so as to have competitions across all sporting disciplines.

In his introspective analysis of the 2023 schools’ sports activities Maphosa chose to call the previous year as a recovery period. He said owing to the Covid-19 pandemic era that ended in 2022, they lost some valuable sponsors which spelt doom to some tournaments on their calendar.

“We have every reason to say we want sponsors back. With no doubt, schools’ tournaments need funding and this year we want to lure companies to come on board and support our sporting activities. Monetary incentives are key in creating interest at grassroots level.

“I will rate 2023 as an all-time low in terms of our sporting activities. I think this had to do with the Covid-19 scourge that affected us between 2020 and a bit of 2022. I will take 2023 as recovery period, as we tried to get back to normal settings. We lost some great sponsorship like CocaCola but, we managed to retain other sponsors like Tanganda in netball and we are looking to better relations with our sponsors in 2024,” said Maphosa.

The Nash president said in the next few days, schools will start to draw plans as they prepare for the athletics competitions. He said it was expected that the track and field championships get underway in the third week of January, starting off with the inter-house competitions.

“We are looking at an improved activity in our sporting calendar, where all sports codes will be in action. We have more sporting action this year, in all disciplines Right now, we just opened schools and as you know the first term is for athletics. Our resolution is to get back to the pre-Covid-19 times and let the children enjoy and discover themselves in sport,” he said.

In the past year, Maphosa said it was realised that schools sport was long overdue for reform so as to align itself to global trends.

He said plans were afoot to have schools start training their learners in sport officiating.

“We have resolved to train our learners in sport officiating. We saw benefits to train our learners during the Caf African Schools Football Championship (Cosafa Region) Qualifiers at Gateway High School in Harare in December in Harare. Some of the referees were our own school children, even the medics,” he said.

“Therefore, we want to empower them in these areas. It is not only about playing but learning to acquire knowledge. We are realising that sport is now an industry in which people can earn a living. Our learners have to compete having that mindset as well.”

Maphosa said a detailed calendar of key sporting events will be released soon. — @NkosieLegend.