adminKusile Madlela Sports reporter
ZIMBABWE Volleyball Association president Fredrick Ndlovu has disclosed that his organisation has shifted its focus to developing and improving the skills of junior athletes through specialised training and individualised teaching.
He said since last year’s launch of four Build African Dream Project centres around the country, they had enrolled a number of children between the ages of eight and nine for training purposes.
The African Dream project was initiated by the African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) and is aimed at improving how African teams perform at a global level. The project sets out to identify talented young players and provide them with a four-year plan to develop their technical and tactical skills at development centres.
Ndlovu said one centre was located at Eveline High School in Bulawayo to cater for Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South. The centre in Gweru caters for Midlands and Mashonaland West, while the one in Masvingo also covers Manicaland and the centre located in Harare takes care of Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central.
He said each centre had the capacity to train up to 50 children per a quarter and the association tries to enrol the best candidates in each province following a series of enrolment exercises.
“Each child is meant to complete four quarters that focus on the basics of the game. The children come from schools within the provinces and they train during weekends and have training camps during school holidays. These children are chosen through a scientific process that’s mainly centred on height and bodybuild. Some children who’ve never played the sport but exhibit good ball handling skills that can be developed are also targeted,” said Ndlovu.
He said each centre had a resident coach in charge of all training programmes with the capacity to impart the right skills and mindset required to play the game at a higher level.
“We have four coaches who’ve been entrusted with driving the training programmes. These individuals are Vulindlela Moyo (Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South), Itsanang Abu-Basuthu (Midlands and Mashonaland West), Aaron Mutede (Masvingo and Manicaland) and Artwell Gororo (Harare and Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West). These individuals are all vastly experienced and qualified to equip children with the basics of volleyball.”
He said the plan was to move the sport forward by having a national team for every age group in the near future.
“We’d like to see all age groups with a national team in the near future. This is something we want to achieve to ensure we have strong senior national teams,” Ndlovu said.
Online Reporter