BULAWAYO Province Education director Dan Moyo has urged national school heads to put in place a programme which allows for the monitoring of the development of athletes that participate in school competitions even after they finish school.
VITALIS MOYO SPORTS REPORTER
Moyo said this while addressing the Zimbabwe team for Confederation of School Sports Association of Southern Africa (Cossasa) during a sendoff ceremony held at Founders High School yesterday morning.
“We need to start keeping records of how these athletes do in the various schools competitions and follow up on how those athletes that have excelled do in the future even after they finish school.
We want to see these athletes that do so well for their schools representing the country at international level,” Moyo said. The Cossasa team left the country yesterday for the ball games that start today in Windhoek, Namibia, and is composed of 49 athletes from primary schools and 51 athletes from secondary schools as well as 42 officials.
Moyo also encouraged the athletes to take sports seriously as it is currently one of the most rewarding professions in the world. “Sport has money and it can be a source of living for you (athletes) if it is pursued. We need to realise that most of the millionaires in the world are sports people and hence encourage these athletes to continue in sports,” he said.
“We want to see them going further than schools and representing the country as well as playing in other countries.” Moyo expressed confidence that the Cossasa team will do well in the games in Namibia as it has a number of athletes that stood out during the 2013 edition of the National Youth Games which ended last week in Bulawayo.
“This year we are taking a slightly bigger contingent to the games with the inclusion of Under-13 teams and I’m sure that we can pick up more medals than last year,” Moyo added.
