NAAZ must make the most out of national champs
THE cream of Zimbabwe’s track and field athletes will converge at White City Stadium for the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe’s National Championships.
It is the ultimate competition where athletes competing for their respective provincial teams fight for personal best, season best times and national records in their events.
NAAZ as the athletics mother body should therefore make the most of these championships, to re-ignite this event and the sport in general.
For several years, Zimbabwe’s athletics was anchored on the success stories of the Chamber of Mines, which would bring together the best of the local clubs.
Now that the Chamber of Mines has been confined to the history books, it leaves the National Championships to be the local version of the World Championships if not our own edition of the Olympics.
As reported elsewhere in this publication, at least 350 athletes will be at the White City Stadium to compete for honours.
The competition is also a platform for the athletes to secure qualification standards for the African Senior championships in Cameroon scheduled for June 21-26.
It is also a window of opportunity for the younger athletes to try and secure times and standards for the World Junior Championships, which are pencilled in for August 27-31 in Lima Peru.
We also believe that the pilgrimage in Bulawayo should present NAAZ president Tendai Tagara, his leadership, the coaches, athletes, administrators and other stakeholders with a chance to showcase why athletics is such a major sport not only in this country but even on a global stage.
That the sport provided the first person to qualify for Team Zimbabwe’s crew to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France — long distance runner Isaac Mpofu — underscores the significance of athletics to the country’s sport.
It is a sporting discipline that is as hugely popular especially at school and tertiary levels, as is football, cricket and rugby.
In fact, given that cricket and rugby come with some considerable costs in training and playing equipment, athletics becomes easily the biggest mass sport in the country.
As such NAAZ must ride on this popularity, which athletics continues to enjoy in the schools and tertiary institutions to churn out world beaters.
A lot of sports men and women have used athletics as a gateway to secure scholarships to universities in countries such as Canada and the United States of America.
Resultantly, it has improved their competitiveness and that is why today Zimbabwe has the likes of Tapiwa Makarawu, Chengetayi Mapaya and Makanakaishe Charamba who have been excelling in the USA and also making it to big stages such as the World Athletics Championships where they have flown the country’s flag with pride.
NAAZ should ensure the organisation in today’s event is flawless and one that other disciplines can emulate.
After all such administrators like Cynthia Phiri and Tagara have been around for long enough to know how important the National Championships is, especially to the athletes.
It is an occasion which NAAZ can also use as a drawcard for more corporate partners to athletics.
The country would be all too happy to get reports of local companies also adopting some talented and less privileged athletes, be they from Honde Valley, Kotwa, Muzarabani, Kanyemba, Binga, Gwanda, Gokwe, who are crying out for support to live their dreams.
Now that the Chamber Mines have been off the radar for some time, the National Championships are now the stage where stars are born and dreams are made and as such the occasion should not pass like some ordinary school event.
NAAZ ought to have been more aggressive in their marketing, which could have included some roadshows among other endeavours that were key to the build up to today’s competitions.
The association needed to ensure the Championships were a buzzword in all the country’s 10 provinces even as they stage them on the same weekend that the Warriors were resuming their FIFA 2026 World Cup football qualifiers. After all it is the provinces, which are providing the teams to the National Championships.
Parents, guardians, brothers and sisters, also need to have a culture of supporting the athletes and we call upon them to fill the grandstands at White City stadium and cheer the track and field competitors.
Zimbabwe could take a cue from Jamaica, the Caribbean Island that gave the world a sprint king called Usain Bolt.
In Jamica, national schools and the National Championships are one of the biggest events in the country’s sporting calendar and the island has used the support systems to continue to produce winners who include Shericka Jackson, Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
The same can be done here and it can start with today’s Championships in Bulawayo.