WHEN national amateur boxing team coach Kennedy Kanyanta announced this past week the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with his Glasgow Commonwealth Games boxers, few would understand what exactly he was on about.
For my part, I was pleasantly surprised, if not shocked. In my entire life as an avid boxing fan, analyst, columnist and what not, there’s never been a time when anyone signed an MOU with his boxers in a quest for success or risk being dropped from the national squad.
And so, in order of priorities, I commend Kanyanta for his bold, innovative and patriotic idea which could help Zambia as a nation achieve something at the Games from July 23 through August 2, 2014.
Kanyanta’s MOU, issued from Glasgow, Scotland, must be a milestone for Zambia, to push our amateur boxers- light flyweight Bwalya Lumbwe, flyweight, Christopher Katanga, lightweight, Charles Lumbwe, welterweight Mbachi Kaonga and middleweight Ben Muziyo to the limit and, hopefully, bring at least a medal from the Games, despite the many pre-tournament odds against them, including a clear lack of seriousness by the authorities in funding the preparations in time.
Last January, sports minister Chishimba Kambwili was on record as saying he did not expect Zambia to reap any medals at this year’s Games and Nanjing Youth Olympics due to last minute preparations for its athletes, including boxers.
Kambwili said, basically, that nothing short of a miracle would have to happen for the athletes to have a ghost of chance of winning any medals at these highly competitive games which entail long, arduous and painstaking groundwork to excel.
He cited Cuba, which, he said, started preparations for the Games about eight years ago and ruled out any chance of Zambia’s representatives competing with their peers from that country who, by competition time, would have attained marquee value. Why these preparations are started at the 11th in hour in Zambia only the authorities can explain.
Usually, a lack of financial resources is cited for the poor preparations. The question, however, that begs frank answers is, are the authorities informed at gun -point about these important international events of the magnitude of the Commonwealth Games?
If the answer is no, then we ought to be blamed and ashamed of ourselves, for going and returning from Glasgow the way we went-medal-less.
However, when the man who brought honour and pride to this country with his own gold medal at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games breaks with Zambian authorities’ business-as-usual tradition, we must begin to reflect deeply about the meaning of patriotism.
Kanyanta knows what it feels like to win a gold, a silver or even a bronze medal. A medal is a medal in any language. I don’t know about you, but from where I stand, Kanyanta is saying, Zambia and its representatives at the Games must think outside the box and do the extra-ordinary, that which no one expects them to do, and defy the odds stacked against them. He’s confident of repeaping at least three medals!
It’s easy to dismiss his dream as wishful thinking, and an inner voice tells me, yes it is, but, then, another voice says: all Kanyanta is saying to his charges is: “believe in yourselves enough, do the right things I taught you as you enter the ring.”
It’s a tall order on the world stage when all your past exposure was local in dingy halls or venues and, all of a sudden, you have to showcase your skills in Glassgow with its neon or psychedelic lights sweeping through the ring. There’s always the danger of stage fright creeping in at the wrong hour.
I believe Kanyanta has given his boxers a full drill about the significance of these Games and what they should mean for their individual and collective future. I think physical preparation is not enough. The key is psychological preparation where the outcome of a bout is determined largely by the mentality of the boxer himself and not necessarily by the words of the coach.
A Zambian squad of seven boxers reaped six medals–three gold, two silver and bronze during the 2012 Zone Six Games under Kanyata’s tutelage.
His approach has been to instill in his boxers the spirit of no-sweat-no sweet under what he termed a progressive programme which monitored the lads at various stages ahead of the Games. Can Zambia reap at least a medal? Forgive my naivety, but I think it’s possible even though the like hood seems remote. Some correctly predicted Brazil would fall against Germany, but probably no one imagined the shut-out score line.
Comments: mwale.simon@yahoo.co.uk / 0966 755 574/0953744074