Do the authorities know the power of sport?
KAINO NGHITONGO
Although seemingly not noticed, sport can play a major role in the country’s development.
Its power seems to be ignored in my motherland, and it is rather seen as recreation.
We are failing to realise that sport can contribute to the country’s economy, not to even mention how many people we will get off the street.
I don’t even know if we have even looked at the qualities of sport from a health perspective, to say that physical activity, including sport, is linked to reduced risk of illnesses, including cardiovascular disease.
Studies have shown the positive effects of sport on education, which includes improved performance, lower absenteeism and drop-outs, and increased progression to higher education.
If the above-mentioned can be some of the areas we do not look at then I don’t even know why we do sport.
The youth are at risk of being involved in criminal behaviour but sport has the power to fight that.
Several studies suggest a positive link between taking part in sport and academic achievement. This has been shown to be especially true in programmes that combine sport with specialist out-of-school education programmes.
However, there is still disagreement about the nature of the cause and effect between taking part in sports and educational attainment and this is no different in the Namibian context.
Sports programmes have the potential to strengthen social networks and community identity.
Now having all those as powers of sports, one then asks whether our authorities are aware of that and if they are, why are they ignoring it?
Not only does it start with the lack of funds that we all seem to be paying attention to now, but the manpower plays a crucial role too.
I have said it before that we can ignore the fact that not everyone can be academically gifted but for those that are, let us empower them to lead sports.
Currently Namibian sports is in the doldrums and all this can be blamed on the authorities who have ignored the qualities of sports, but still has the energy to talk about competing and not just participating.
We all want that to be a reality but are we injecting enough to get the desired results? Do we have qualified people to run sports in the country who will look at it beyond being on the field?
As we are reviewing our Sport Act, I hope that the area of qualified administrators is addressed in that Act, and that the sports commission sees to it that it is implemented in each sport code.
I think it is about time that we get away with getting friends; a group of family members run sports in the country and rather start looking at their qualifications.
It is about time that we see administrators pursuing careers in sports administration and not just the training courses offered within their federations and see that as a qualification.
It is however also about time that out tertiary institutions start offering such courses as some will reason that no institution on Namibia offers a sports course.
Unam was apparently starting a sport science degree, whatever happened to it, am still wondering but hopeful that it is not swept under the carpet but yet to start.
Let me also hope that NUST has plans to start some sport courses, as that is the only way we can have people running sports with a focus and actually understand what they are doing.
We also have to start educating our sportsmen and women and not just telling them that there is life after sports but you do not encourage them on what to do.
Life after sports does not only mean being employed in some ministry and so but also being innovative and having something to lay back on when your sporting days are over.
We surely do not want to see our sporting heroes that we are now celebrating being on the street after sports eating from rubbish bins but making sure that they will still be able to take care of themselves and their families.
So let us not ignore the power of sport, but rather consider them in whatever decision we are making for the betterment of Namibian people.
[email protected]
Although seemingly not noticed, sport can play a major role in the country’s development.
Its power seems to be ignored in my motherland, and it is rather seen as recreation.
We are failing to realise that sport can contribute to the country’s economy, not to even mention how many people we will get off the street.
I don’t even know if we have even looked at the qualities of sport from a health perspective, to say that physical activity, including sport, is linked to reduced risk of illnesses, including cardiovascular disease.
Studies have shown the positive effects of sport on education, which includes improved performance, lower absenteeism and drop-outs, and increased progression to higher education.
If the above-mentioned can be some of the areas we do not look at then I don’t even know why we do sport.
The youth are at risk of being involved in criminal behaviour but sport has the power to fight that.
Several studies suggest a positive link between taking part in sport and academic achievement. This has been shown to be especially true in programmes that combine sport with specialist out-of-school education programmes.
However, there is still disagreement about the nature of the cause and effect between taking part in sports and educational attainment and this is no different in the Namibian context.
Sports programmes have the potential to strengthen social networks and community identity.
Now having all those as powers of sports, one then asks whether our authorities are aware of that and if they are, why are they ignoring it?
Not only does it start with the lack of funds that we all seem to be paying attention to now, but the manpower plays a crucial role too.
I have said it before that we can ignore the fact that not everyone can be academically gifted but for those that are, let us empower them to lead sports.
Currently Namibian sports is in the doldrums and all this can be blamed on the authorities who have ignored the qualities of sports, but still has the energy to talk about competing and not just participating.
We all want that to be a reality but are we injecting enough to get the desired results? Do we have qualified people to run sports in the country who will look at it beyond being on the field?
As we are reviewing our Sport Act, I hope that the area of qualified administrators is addressed in that Act, and that the sports commission sees to it that it is implemented in each sport code.
I think it is about time that we get away with getting friends; a group of family members run sports in the country and rather start looking at their qualifications.
It is about time that we see administrators pursuing careers in sports administration and not just the training courses offered within their federations and see that as a qualification.
It is however also about time that out tertiary institutions start offering such courses as some will reason that no institution on Namibia offers a sports course.
Unam was apparently starting a sport science degree, whatever happened to it, am still wondering but hopeful that it is not swept under the carpet but yet to start.
Let me also hope that NUST has plans to start some sport courses, as that is the only way we can have people running sports with a focus and actually understand what they are doing.
We also have to start educating our sportsmen and women and not just telling them that there is life after sports but you do not encourage them on what to do.
Life after sports does not only mean being employed in some ministry and so but also being innovative and having something to lay back on when your sporting days are over.
We surely do not want to see our sporting heroes that we are now celebrating being on the street after sports eating from rubbish bins but making sure that they will still be able to take care of themselves and their families.
So let us not ignore the power of sport, but rather consider them in whatever decision we are making for the betterment of Namibian people.
[email protected]
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