Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube, [email protected]
The Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, in partnership with the Athletes Commission, hosted a pivotal workshop in Bulawayo yesterday, aimed at equipping sportspersons with the essential tools and knowledge needed to excel both on and off the field.
Hellen Mitchell, a member of the athletes’ national body led by footballer Rudo Neshamba, said they were in Bulawayo to engage athletes and discuss issues affecting Zimbabwe sportspersons.
She highlighted that it was essential to have athletes contribute to decisions that affect them.
“We came to Bulawayo to have an engagement session with the athletes. We have been discussing with athletes the issues and challenges which they have and how we can work together across all the disciplines to improve conditions for athletes and hear their concerns and also have representation so that athletes’ voices can be involved in the decision-making processes,” said Mitchell, who is from cycling and is based in Harare.
“We are also working with the chair who is coming from soccer. Our chair is Rudo Neshamba. We have a committee of six people working with the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee on all athlete-related issues, making sure we bring them to the forefront and have important discussions,” she said.
She was happy with the turnout and contributions from the participants and is hopeful that they will visit other provinces and engage as well.
We are already excited about this forum here in Bulawayo and in future, we are hoping to move around to other provinces so that we can take the message to all athletes. And we will have all these important discussions and take them to all areas in Zimbabwe and come together to make improvements in sport and help grow the sports,” said Mitchell.
On the issue of treatment of athletes as equals across all sports, she admitted that some improvements had been made.
Some events have men earning more than female athletes. Some sporting codes have moved in to address that inequality.
She noted, however, that the cases differed from sport to sport.
“It depends on the sports codes; some face a lot of challenges to do with funding and development. We are looking at increasing opportunities for education, helping athletes to balance careers with education, as well as their sports and even life after sports. They can also do other programmes so that they can give back to the sport and create paths for others to follow,” said the cyclist.
