Chronicle EditorLovemore Kadzura Herald Correspondent
THE Sports Commission will strive to introduce all sporting disciplines to all corners of the country and ensure no talented sports people are left out.
The Commission’s Manicaland Provincial coordinator, Shupikai Berejena, said this in an interview with The Herald on the sidelines of a training workshop for 25 sports administrators in Headlands on Thursday.
Berejena added that lack proper sport administration was one of the biggest challenges that was hampering sport development in rural and farming areas, hence the need to train and equip administrators.
“In rural areas, sport is there and very vibrant but what is lacking is proper organisation and development. It is being done in a haphazard manner and because of that we do not achieve anything at the end of the day so we miss our intended goals.
“Right now we are decentralising all sports disciplines to wards and villages. The so-called minority sports, which used to be the preserve of urban areas, are now coming down to wards.
“We want all the 22 sport codes offered at National Youth Games to be also available at ward level.
“For that to be achievable and successful it requires that we also have qualified, trained and competent administrators. The people whom we are training here are youth officers in the Ministry of Youth and other community members who have interest in sport and reside in the wards they work in.
“Proper administration is key and vital for us to achieve development, proper talent identification and ultimately success in international competitions. We are also going to revive all idle community sports centres and country clubs so that we have enough facilities to conduct sporting activities, said Berejena.
Headlands Member of Parliament, who is also the Deputy Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Christopher Chingosho, who facilitated the two-day workshop, said he hoped that the trained administrators would transform sporting activities in his constituency and beyond.
“I have been sponsoring various sporting activities in the constituency but I noted that the administration part was very poor. So I engaged SRC and the Ministry of Sport and Recreation so that they train ward youth officers and other residents on how to manage and run sport properly.
“Sport is now a multi-billion-dollar industry so we want also as Headlands to have our people tapping into that lucrative industry,” said Chingosho.
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