IN addition to sounding heretical, unpatriotic and unsporting by claiming that Zimbabwe does not do well in sport (as noted in last week’s article), we will no doubt cause further disappointment, disgust and disagreement when we make the following claim: for all our protestations to the contrary, Zimbabwe must not do well in sport. This outrageous statement also requires an explanation!
By Tim Middleton
We do not want Zimbabwe to do well in sport for a number of reasons. The first reason is that if we do want Zimbabwe to do well in sport, we will be tempted to do so by the wrong methods. We will be tempted to find a quick, easy, cheap route to the goal. Many countries have done this by granting citizenship to excellent players from outside the country so that they can improve the national team performances.
Others have done it by sanctioning the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Clubs have done it by using money to buy in brilliant players. So schools have joined in and resorted to forging birth certificates of players to use over-age players or unregistered players in their bid for supremacy and success.
They have resorted to enticing and poaching players from other schools (even though that player may not have as many opportunities to develop), purely so they can claim to have beaten everyone else and take great credit (for nothing more than having this player on the team).
None of that proves anything about the individual, school or country, neither does it help the school or country — if Zimbabwe sport is to do well, we need 20, 30, 40 strong school teams, not four or five, as players will develop through tough competition, not through easy wins. A school is simply a vehicle to carry the children and the country forward.
The second reason is that if we do want Zimbabwe to do well in sport, we will be tempted to do so for the wrong reasons. For decades, countries and clubs have tried to prove their worth by winning, by results. Nations with large collections of medals at international sporting events try to suggest that they are better countries than others when no notice is paid to the number of athletes, the available facilities or the financial investment, let alone the fact that it has nothing to do with the way the country treats its people. Winning sporting fixtures says nothing about the school or the country — who remembers 20 years later who won that particular match and, more significantly, who cares? Do we put the result of our schools fixtures on our personal CV? Will any prospective employer really be at all interested in whether our school team went unbeaten at school?
The third reason is that if we do want Zimbabwe to do well in sport, we will be tempted to do so with the wrong results. There is a real danger that when an individual or team or country does well in something, they will become big-headed and arrogant which in turn can lead to complacency. We think that confidence must be shown in conceit, in strutting and showboating and shouting, instead of quietly looking for further ways to improve and to withstand the future challenges to our success.
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We repeat: we do not want Zimbabwe to do well in sport. However, let us add one extremely important rider to that: We do want to do sport well in Zimbabwe. Note that they are the same words, but in a different order and the different order will make all the difference. The difference will be that if we do sport well in Zimbabwe, then Zimbabwe will undoubtedly do well in sport. We must do sport differently if we are to do sport well. We must ensure we do sport in our schools by the right methods, for the right reasons and with the right results. We must find the correct balance, the full understanding, the big picture, the real purpose. We must underline the value of sport in teaching crucial, life-changing lessons and we must reinforce the true values in sport, such values as honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, kindness, generosity, compassion, courtesy, dignity, humility, respect (for sport, their role in it, their opponents, the officials, their team) and responsibility.
We must encourage and enable each child in the squad, not simply in the team, to do their best, not to be the best (if they do their best, they may end up being the best, but all that can be asked of them is to do their best): we must educate them that progress is more important than success and facilitate their efforts to improve and raise their performances.
The bottom line is simply this: if we do sport well in Zimbabwe, then Zimbabwe will do well in sport. We must get our words in the right order and then we will get the right results.
The writer, Tim Middleton, is a former international hockey player and headmaster, currently serving as the Executive Director of the Association of Trust Schools (ATS)] Email: [email protected]
