Lessons learnt from 10th Region 5 Youth Games
Malawi Basketball team,
The Malawi National Council of Sports-MNCS is planning to start scouting for talent in various sporting disciplines for upcoming international games.
This comes as various stakeholders are taking stock of the Region 5 Youth Games that Malawi recently hosted.
MNCS came under heavy criticism on social media based over team Malawi’s performance at the games as the host nation, citing presence of average performers in a number of sporting disciplines.
As hosts of the 10th edition, Malawi staged an average performance, finishing on the 6th place with 8 gold medals, 10 silver and 26 bronze.
However, brushing off the criticism the Council’s publicist Edgar Ntulumbwa in an earlier interview with Capital FM described the efforts by the home side as exceptional, citing an improvement in performance from last year’s competitions.
“We surpassed our previous record set in Lesotho last year and now we’re planning on surpassing the record we have set on home soil,” he said.
Capital FM also engaged Former Malawi Olympic Committee Chairperson Oscar Kanjala who has suggested that apart from talent identification, sports authorities should also nurture the talent for such events.
“Such youth games are an opportunity for young talent to perfect their skills as they grow. In my opinion, the sports council should take time to identify raw talent across the country,” Kanjala recommended.
However a sports journalist from MIJ FM radio, Joseph Dumbula has cited lack of seriousness in preparing for such competitions as the main contributing factor to the lackluster performance by the Malawi team.
He cites the as an example the controversial ‘somersaults’ (chipidigolilo) as an indication of lack of direction and preparedness for such games in the Gymnastics category.
“The Malawi National Council of Sports should start focusing more on individual sport disciplines that can guarantee success aside from football and netball.
“We have got a lot of individual sports in the country which need the attention of the authorities apart from team sports which seem to be much focused on however, the sports authorities must look into the fact that such competitions require all disciplines to take part,” Dumbula explained
Meanwhile, Ntulumbwa states that talent identification is a process which the council is committed to before the forthcoming games.
Mozambique will be hosting the 11th edition of the Region 5 Youth Games, next year.
About The Author
