Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 121, August 2019 | Page 25

brick to practice shot put! There are many more stories
along those lines from all parts of South Africa.
Adrian and Nadeel Wildschutt’s running talent
earned them both scholarships to study in the USA
Missed Opportunity
In 1995, Old Mutual effectively handed ASA a middle
distance talent identification series on a proverbial
platter. For its 150 th anniversary, the company
launched the Old Mutual Victory Races, a series of
150 five-kilometre races held nationwide in areas
as far afield as Pofadder in the Northern Cape. The
overall men’s and women’s winners of each race were
then flown to the grand final in Pretoria, meaning
that ASA had 150 men and women, including a
substantial number of up-and-coming juniors who
had won their local races, whom they could take
and nurture, provide coaching for, and get them set
up in schools or universities. At least, that was the
theory. Unfortunately, the truth is that ASA had just
been born as the newly unified national athletics body
of the country, and was not yet in a position to take
advantage of what was given to them.
So I come back to the question, who is ultimately
responsible for finding the talent and then nurturing it?
And who will carry the costs involved in this process?
Contrary to what the new Minister for Sports, Arts
and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa thinks and says, building
facilities is not where it starts. In typical politician
fashion, his attitude appears to be “Let’s throw money
at the sport and that will develop champions.” Well,
yes, but only if those funds are properly channelled.
If we take a top-down approach, the easiest and
most effective way to find and nurture new talent is
to first develop coaches. To me, that is a national
responsibility, so ASA needs to develop these coaches,
who can then be ‘deployed’ across the country to find
this talent, and develop it. Therefore, ASA needs to
develop a plan whereby they train and accredit, say,
100 new coaches each year. (In fact, more would be
better!) But that will require substantial funding, to
begin with. It would also require an active search for
and identification of potential coaches. Currently, our
coaches come from people who have an interest in
coaching and then attend ASA/IAAF coaching courses,
but there is no actual drive to go and find new coaches.
So here we go, Minister, here is an opportunity, a
gap that needs to be filled. In my view, this is where
the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture can play a
significant role. I know the Department needs to look
after a whole host of areas in sport, arts and culture,
so will by no means have a bottomless pit of money
to invest in athletics, but that’s where it needs to start.
Because once these coaches are accredited and
deployed, they need to be financially compensated.
Back to School
Schools also need to play a role, but you can no
longer just expect teachers to fulfil that role, as often
happened in the past. Many teachers are no longer
willing (or able) to go the substantial extra miles needed
to nurture young running talent, and one cannot blame
them, given the costs and sacrifices needed. So, the
ASA-trained coaches would need to be sent to the
schools. Again, this requires a collaboration of ASA and
the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.
That said, an important element to remember here
is that schools hire coaches/trainers to make sure
that the school performs well in school competition.
In other words, what happens to athletes after their
school career is not the school’s primary focus. Is this
right? Well, that’s a debate for another day... but it is a
reality for now.
So what happens after school? How many kids get
scholarships to universities, and what happens to
those who are not able to continue studying? Where
do they go, and can they continue in the sport if they
are forced to enter the working world? The concept
of athletic academies often gets bandied about in this
regard, where athletes can still pursue their sporting
careers, but again, who funds this? If privately funded,
then the academies will determine who they want, and
that may not necessarily be in the national interest.
Or is this a government-funded resource? And there
are still more questions that need to be answered,
including who will staff the academies? Should we set
up academies that focus on middle distance only, or
sprints and hurdles only, or jumps and throws only?
schools and tertiary institutions to possibly even the
Police and Defence Force, as in the past, on top of
input and investment from Government and ASA, and
of course, the private sector, too.
That means that the provinces need to be financially
and logistically equipped with accredited and
remunerated coaching staff to fulfil the mandate of
ASA, but right now, they simply are not able to do
so, even if there was a national strategy in place. But
that’s where it should start, in my humble opinion.
Combining Forces
Presently talent identification and development is,
to all intents and purposes, left up to individuals
(coaches, teachers), clubs and sponsors with a
passion for the sport. And that is, quite simply put,
just not sustainable. My proposal is perhaps idealistic,
even Utopian – I am very aware of that – but I believe
that that is the model we need to be looking at. We
need a combined effort, which will require both a
top-down and bottom-up approach. Will it happen? I
guess that is the next million-dollar question.
Another promising youngster
starting to shine, Gift Leotlela
Meanwhile, what role should ASA play here? After all,
the federation has made no secret about the fact that
it wants the nation to ultimately top the medal table
at the World Championships in the near future. But
that will require a concerted effort by all involved, from
Ryan Mphahlele
is one of the
most exciting
young talents to
emerge in SA in
recent years
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Manfred Seidler is a freelance Olympic sport journalist who has been in the industry
since 1994, in both print media and broadcasting, covering four Olympic Games for SABC Radio, and
producing various athletics shows for the SABC. Follow him on Twitter: @sportmansa; Facebook:
Sport Man SA; Instagram: sportman_sa, and check out his weekly podcast: RunnersGuideRadio.
25