adminSenior Sports Reporter
MATOBO National Park will host the second edition of the Sports Leaders’ Institute of Zimbabwe (SLIZ) sports management winter camp from July 24-26.
The camp, which is viewed as a potential game changer in regional sports administration, has been endorsed by the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa, the Africa Union Sports Council Region 5.
SLIZ’s objectives are to facilitate and provide a conducive environment for optimum growth and advancement of the nation’s sports leaders with emphasis on capacity building and professional development in line with the existing global trends.
The three-day workshop is a platform for administrators to brainstorm and thrash out possible solutions to challenges they encounter across the board.
SLIZ director Russell Mhiribidi said it is important for sports leaders to understand that turning around the fortunes of national sport could not be done overnight.
“About 80 administrators from national sporting associations, tertiary institutions, Naph and Nash will attend this capacity building workshop. We feel that change in our sporting landscape isn’t going to be an event, but a process which we as SLIZ feel should take place in a free environment where there are no accusations. The sport industry is a viable business, hence the need to capacitate administrators,” said Mhiribidi.
He said although the winter management camp was a unique event for sports leaders in the country and the Southern African region, it was a regular occurrence in Europe offering administrators a chance to discuss problems affecting them.
Other professionals such as lawyers and chartered accountants hold similar workshops.
Former Zimbabwe football international, Alois Bunjira, who is now Premiership side Caps United’s marketing executive, is among key speakers at the camp where he will present a paper on career pathways.
Titus Zvomuya, Sebastian Garikai, Zimbabwe’s chef de mission at the AUSC Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games held in Bulawayo last year, microbiologist Kudzai Vera and Johnnie Zimba from the Olympic Youth Development Centre in Zambia are among the presenters.
Zimba’s presentation would be on youth development in Southern Africa while Vera will talk about nutrition as diet has a huge bearing on athletes’ performances.
Because sport as an industry needs partners, SLIZ has also invited Luscious Charumbira from the National University of Science and Technology to make a presentation on sports marketing.
Online Reporter