On Thursday last week I attended the Baker Tilly Gwatidzo press conference where the auditing firm unveiled a sponsorship package for four junior athletes that have raised the country’s flag high in numerous events.
Report by Brian Nkiwane
What was touching were the sad moments the athletes went through before they were recognised.
The four athletes are Sithulisiwe Zhou (20), Trymore Kanzara (20), Bertha Chikanga (16) and Kudakwashe James (16).
Their stories pointed to the fact that most Zimbabwean talent, especially in the rural areas, is going down the drain, unnoticed, due to lack of media coverage, exposure and the unavailability of funds.
It would appear this trend is affecting all sporting disciplines.
It also came out at this press conference that a number of talented children in rural areas fail to take part in events because they do not have national identification documents, such as birth certificates and ID cards.
The four athletes come from different rural backgrounds, but what is puzzling is that things such as birth certificates stand in the way of talent and athletes allege that responsible ministries are not willing to assist.
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It is also surprising that some remote parts of our country still think the girl child should not earn a living through sport.
Listening to Sithulisiwe Zhou, a girl destined for greater heights in the near future, you could tell that rural families still believe that a girl child should not be empowered at all.
It was also disheartening to learn that some rural schools, despite unquestionable talent displayed by athletes, leave them to rot even after they dominate at district level. Schools cite lack of funds, but I think they should bring such talent to the forefront by being more innovative.
It is against this background that the brains behind Baker Tilly Gwatidzo, Phibion Gwatidzo, needs to be complimented in efforts to harness talent throughout the country. It was through Gwatidzo that the four young athletes’ dreams came true.
The auditing company which donated an athletics kit will now shoulder all the financial needs for them to participate in any athletics event.
Sport has for the past years been getting support from well-wishers who have kids at heart but this has been happening mostly in football.
Those that focused on other sporting disciplines would go for renowned athletes, forgetting that for them to be where they are today, somebody was behind their success.
I hope this is going to set the tone for athletics leadership, that talent has to be identified and nurtured from all parts of the country at a tender age. The scenario has actually created a gap between ages.
We now have ageing athletes in the mould of Stephen Muzhingi, Marko Mambo, Colleen Makaza, but there is need to keep alive the conveyer belt. We have to invest in these youngsters.
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