‘Adopt a Namibian Athlete’

AN ambitious project to develop world class Namibian athletes, called ‘Adopt a Namibian Athlete’ was launched at The Dome in Swakopmund over the weekend.

The Dome, Namibia’s world class indoor sporting facility, was officially opened by President Hage Geingob on Thursday evening, while the Adopt an Athlete programme was launched the following morning.

Ulla Finkeldey, The Dome’s health and training centre manager said they wanted to assist in the identification, development and support of Namibian athletes.

“We want to assist in the development of Namibian athletes. We offer professional training for Namibian athletes and coaches and we offer assistance with living and financial expenses,” she said.

According to Finkeldey they started a Namibian Athletes Development Trust with the aim of scouting talent, offering athletes training and coaching, athletes support and a living allowance, which includes accommodation, schooling assistance, domestic and international travel and sports clothing and equipment.

The athletes’ training programme offers qualified coaches and trainers, physical development, monitoring and evaluation and athletes’ support, including sports physiotherapists, nutritional education, sport psychologist sessions and competition preparation.

According to Finkeldey the programme has already delivered its first success story.

“The athletes training programme was started two years ago and we already have our first success story in Chrislene Nienaber-Klein, who won three gold medals and was also the Victrix Ludorum at the Cosassa Youth Games in Botswana earlier this year,” she said.

She said for the programme to work, all the role players, including the Ministry of Sport, the Sport Commission and the private sector would have to come on board.

“We want to work as a team with all the role players, and my favourite saying is team work is dream work.”

Annual costs

Alex Novak, a consultant working for The Dome, said the programme will cost N$300 000 per athlete per year.

“We envisage a successful private-public partnership and are calling on everyone to help push the trust forward. This will cost N$300 000 per athlete per year and our aim is to find that talent, train it and create more success stories.”

The annual costs include direct athlete costs like trainers and coaches, facilities and sport equipment and international travel; athlete support like living allowances and accommodation and schooling; infrastructure, including staff and administration; and overheads like office and sport facility rentals.

He said they would establish a steering committee by October 2018 and appoint a general manager and key staff by January 2019. They plan to source start-up capital by April 2019, and will pitch for private sector partners and sponsors by August, while their first group of athletes will be selected by October 2019.

Top government officials including the Minister of Sport, Erastus Uutoni; the permanent secretary, Emma Kantema Gaomas; the president of the Namibia National Olympic Committee (NNOC), Abner Xoagub; and the chairman and chief administrator of the Namibia Sport Commission (NSC), Joel Matthews and Fred Mwiya, respectively, were in attendance at the launch, while several Namibian sporting luminaries gave inspiring speeches.

They included Namibia’s Paralympic gold medallist Ananias Shikongo, former sprinter Sherwin Vries and former NNOC and NSC member Ndeuli Hamutumwa, who is currently doing a doctorate on sport tourism and its importance to the national economy.

“I’ve been to Cuba and Jamaica to study their sport systems and to try and learn from them and find out how they deliver world stars, and all I can say is that they can only dream to have a facility like we have here at the Dome,” Hamutumwa said.

“Sports tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and we need to have a 10-year-plan where the Dome fits in so that we can develop talent over a long period of time.

“We need to come up with a strategy to promote sport and tourism and should talk to municipalities and other role players to maximise this. We now have an opportunity to change sport in this country – we have the Dome, but nations are built by those who can work together in unity of purpose,” he added.

Joel Matthews, the chairman of the NSC said he was encouraged by The Dome’s commitment to create opportunities for Namibian athletes to excel.

“It’s a dream for us to see Namibian sport develop to the next level and through partnership we can do this. We want to create opportunities for our athletes to be able to excel and it’s encouraging to see members from different backgrounds from the community here who all want to participate and go forward. We want to work together with everyone in Namibia to make sure that our athletes have the opportunities they deserve to be able to excel.”

Minister Uutoni said it was important to identify talent throughout the country, but called on the private sector to help upgrade facilities in the regions.

“In the regions some people have facilities, but others are totally dilapidated, so I want to call on businesses to get involved and help to renovate these facilities,” he said.

“If we want peace and harmony in this country we must share; business people, let’s stand together,” he added.