dyton mupawaenda
Lovemore Dube-Bulawayo Bureau
ZIMBABWE sportspersons have been advised to stay away from drugs as they retard the development of their careers.
The call was made by Thobekile Ndlovu, a trained and registered nurse who also has a qualification in bio- medical science. She has over 35 years in the field and has worked at a rehabilitation centre in the United Kingdom.
She now runs Grace Place Rehabilitation Centre in Bulawayo where sport is used as part of the recovery process for inmates.
In an interview with Zimpapers Sports Hub yesterday, Ndlovu said drugs and substances where evils that needed to be weeded out of society. In sport she noted that many careers hand ended because of affliction to drugs and substances.
“Drugs affect the body and mind. Those that abuse at times turn to be like zombies sticking on the spot or have literal slow reaction to issues,” said Ndlovu.
She said there were several reasons why young sports-persons or older ones took to drugs.
“The effects of drugs on sport is a very serious problem. Pressure from being a celebrity is more than what they can handle and they end up taking drugs, they reach a certain point where they become solely dependent on the drugs,” said Ndlovu.
She said eventually they get to a tipping point where the effects of drug and substance abuse tip over as they become solely dependent on the habit and performance drops drastically at times marking the end of what was or a promising career.
“They begin to suffer. It affects their physique and their careers are destroyed, they begin to play poorly,” said Ndlovu.
She said the problem was that apart from affecting the sports-persons physically, drug and substance abuse took its toll on the mental faculties of individual athletes with some getting to suffer from bipolar.
“At times some have mental disorders, others get so aggressive or dependent on drugs that they cannot leave without. These will be very addicted and blow a lot of money on the habit,” said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu said a good fraction of youths both within and outside sport is involved or at risk of drugs because of peer pressure, family matters or lack of recreational opportunities to keep them engaged all the time.
“Drugs impose a certain false standard of perfection to sportsmen and celebrities, yet they should be paragons of virtue. At first their belief is drugs are enhancing their performances yet doing the opposite,” said Ndlovu who is also a businesswoman with interests in the hospitality industry where she runs a customised training school.
Ndlovu said an addict needs to be detoxified first during a period of total abstinence so that the drugs are cleared off the system as they work with psychiatrists and psychologists.
“Problems of addiction manifest themselves in many ways hence the need to work with professionals who will help them put to a stop their habits and also establish causative factors and also state of mind. The process can be painful hence the need to ensure they get the best team around. Some get to use drugs to find solace, some to keep up with new found status, others family problems apart from peer pressure.
“Others tend to have negative flashbacks or hallucinations which could be bad for sports-persons as some can be seen performing acts on the field that no normal sportsmen can do,” said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu said the process involves therapy through sport, work, spiritual, group discussions and sharing experiences.
While under rehabilitation Ndlovu said it is important to have spot checks as some may use staff members to smuggle heroin or cocaine. She said it is important to be resilient and be willing to adapt to a new life after rehabilitation with family and environment key features on the way forward.
Drug and substance abuse have become prevalent and Ndlovu said the availability of cheap spirits like ‘Njengu’ which kids and vagabonds can afford had made the situation worse. Mbanje she said was also among the most abused substances.
Online Reporter