Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
NATIONAL Athletics Association of Zimbabwe director of coaching, talent identification and development Phakamile Lisimati says the continued effort to capacitate coaches and officials is paying off.
NAAZ have lined up coaches and technical officials’ course for January as part of the 2026 season, that takes off in the same month.
The athletics mother body will hold the World Athletics Coaches Education and Certification System (CECS) Level One and the Technical Officials Education and Certification System (TOECS) Level One in Harare and Bulawayo.
For the Harare group, the coaches course runs from January 23 to 25 at the National Sports Stadium while for Bulawayo it is pencilled for January 29 to 31 at White City Stadium. The technical officials’ course will run con-currently, in Harare and Bulawayo, from January 23 to 25.
The courses are mainly targeting teachers from both primary and secondary schools.
“We have lined up courses for the end of January, specifically targeting schools.
“Secondary and primary school teachers to come in and train as officials and coaches as they prepare for their 2026 athletics season. And that’s basically our main goal.
“We want our schools to try and assist their teachers to attend the courses and get equipped in the latest methods and means of training and officiating in athletics,” said Lisimati.
NAAZ have always acknowledged the role played by the National Association of Primary Heads (NAPH) and the National Association of Secondary Heads (NASH) in talent identification, nurturing and development.
And the national association regularly provide the platforms for capacity building starting from the grassroots.
“We have had a lot of courses and I want to confirm, it has really made a very big impact and difference in the quality of athletes that we have produced.
“Number of athletes that have qualified for, whether it’s World Juniors or regional competitions, it’s coming up now.
“We seem like we are bearing the fruits now of those developmental programmes that we are doing.
“We have seen coaches coming out, outstanding performances from coaches and also from athletes. We have seen a big number of athletes attending regional competitions.
“If you look at this year’s Nigeria Africa Junior Championships, we had junior athletes getting to the finals, look at the Region 5 Games in Namibia, winning, picking gold medals and so on.
“I think the developmental courses have actually assisted us in moving forward and we are sure that with more of these, more quality results will be coming in post-covid,” Lisimati said. Athletics was one of the disciplines that contributed several medals for Team Zimbabwe at the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Games in July.
NAAZ also had their youth and junior competing at the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Un-der-18/Under-20 Championships in Nigeria and picked some medals.
And emphasises, laying a strong foundation that allows young and upcoming athletes to get the right training, and properly organised and run competitions has made a difference.
The NAAZ director of coaching, talent identification and development is one of the facilitators for the coaches’ course.
Veteran Enias Nhoro, Irene Masiiwa and Mirirai Madhaka will take charge of the technical officials’ course.
