Zambia Athletics (ZA) continues the selection of a provisional team for the All African Games and Olympic Games as it stages the National Track and Field Tournament- All Comers Meet tomorrow- Saturday at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
The one-day tournament is for selected athletes who clocked good times during the January 20, 2024 event in Ndola.
ZA Media Officer Stella Mumbi-Omara said runners for the Senior African Championships in Cameroon will be picked from the same tournament.
“The objective remains to qualify and select a provisional team (athletes) that will represent Zambia at the All African Games in Accra- Ghana in March, and the Olympic Games in Paris- France,” Omara said.
We need to do a better job of training track athletes. We need to identify them early in primary school, incentivise, train and develop our athletes. This is not an impossible or expensive process. We already have sports in schools. We should start by selecting one or two teachers from each school, bringing them to Lusaka for an intensive education in how to train athletes. Once these teachers go back they can be the ones who train the athletes.
It’s very shameful that tournaments have now become for officials and not athletes. Many athletes will put in a lot to attend selections. They’ll also sacrifice their time and resources to compete for places. Does it make sense for to send 3 athletes to the tournament without their trainers but on the entourage you include 10 officials? Of the 3 one is Mpondela’s daughter and the other is a niece and on officials you even include his girlfriend? If Elvis Nkandu is going to allow this madness this time around we’ll kick him out together with Mpondela
The Zambian Institute of Sports has developed courses to address shortfalls in the trainers at all levels!!
To get world class athletes we need world class trainers and administrators….