adminTHE National Athletics Associations of Zimbabwe held their long-awaited annual general meeting at a hotel in the city where it was resolved that the country accept an invitation to host the prestigious IAAF Level 3 Course in February next year.
“The prestigious course is only held in at the IAAF Regional Development Centre in Kenya, and the only country that has, hitherto, held the course outside is South Africa. This a plus on our part as an association as well as country,’’ said NAAZ president Tendai Tagara.
The AGM also resolved to host an IAAF lecturers course in Bulawayo on 12 and 13 December next month. The course will involve 40 coaches, 4 participants from the country’s 10 provinces.
The graduates are expected to spearheard a programme which will see the country produce 20 to 50 coaches by June next year with the major target being primary schools with expectations being that 2 000 coaches would have been produced by end of the same year, according to Tagara.
And if that is achieved the country will benefit through an IAAF 13 to 15 years programme. NAAZ also resolved to sponsor a technical development programme for four athletes who will participate at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in Brazil in 2016. And to that effect the association had already sent promising athlete Francis Zinwara to a High Perfomance Centre in South Africa.
According to Tagara, the initiative would be outside the support they get from the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee ahead of the Olympics. The AGM also resolved to come out hard on athletes who participate outside the country without being sanctioned by the association and that they would communicate to Athletics South Africa to that effect.
To participate outside the country, especially in South Africa, athletes are required to pay an annual clearance fee of $50. Twenty-three participants took part in the AGM at which NAAZ treasurer Salatiel Zangure presented the associations’ audited financial statements which showed a healthy balance of $40 000.
Online Reporter