By GWEN CHIPASULA –
THE Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ) has challenged the Zambia Under-17 soccer team and the netballers to work hard ahead of their respective international engagements.
Next month will see the Zambia Under-17 team competing at the Niger 2015 Africa Junior Championship while the netball team will travel to Australia in August for the Sydney 2015 World Netball Championships.

. Kalenga

SCZ chairperson Mwamba Kalenga, who visited the netball and Under-17 boy’s team at the National Sports Development Centre (NASDEC) and at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) respectively in Lusaka, also urged the athletes to maintain discipline.
Kalenga said the two teams should not only aim at flying the Zambian flag at the competitions but must work towards bringing honour back home.
“We are proud of your achievements and happy that you have put our flag on the world map. We are here to give you support but there is need for you to work hard to bring back honour. You can only do that by working extra hard and also maintaining high levels of discipline,” he said.
Kalenga, a good governance advocate, urged the athletes to ensure that they remain disciplined and follow their coaches’ instructions adding that it was difficult to excel if one was not disciplined.
“The sky will be the limit for you if you remain disciplined because you will be able to excel and achieve your goals. Look after yourselves very well and always listen to what your coaches will be telling you,” he said.
The SCZ chief applauded both the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) and Netball Association of Zambia (NAZ) for facilitating early preparations for the two teams ahead of the respective engagements.
Kalenga said there was need for all stakeholders to join hands towards achieving the success of the two teams.