By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –
THE Africa Union Sports Council (AUSC) has called for increased investment in coaches on the continent as a way of improving athletes’ performance at international competitions.
AUSC head of sports Machacha Shepande said that proper sports development would not be attained if critical areas like coaching were left behind.
Shepande said this during the official opening of the AUSC Region-Five Coaches Conference at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) in Lusaka where he called on the continent to pay attention to coaching, and praised Region-Five (Southern Africa) for realising this deficiency.
“We at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia have realised that coaching is one key area that has not benefited in the investment ploughed into sport.
We feel that this in an integral part that will help in producing quality athletes.
“So when we hear that you people in Region Five have started talking on that level makes us really excited and we know that this will be a revolution that will go across Africa,” Shepande said.
Countries in Southern Africa met last year and decided to revamp the coaching skill in various sport as a way of improving the medal haul from countries in the region at international sporting events like the All-Africa Games (AAG).
Sports Minister Vincent Mwale said the results from the AAG for Southern Africa were embarrassing if South Africa was removed from the equation.
Mwale said the  number of medals collected was too low and that Zambia was not an exception adding that it was important that something workable gets to be done.
“People will say lets got to talent Identification programmes (TIP), let’s go back to the drawing board and honestly, people have heard all this before and they are tired. They are tired and we seriously need something workable,” he said.
He bemoaned the low levels of coaches in the region stating that Zambia had seek coaches from other countries to stand in for athletes since locals were not qualified for the job at international events.
“At times, our most qualified coaches in the country are the least qualified when they go for international meets.
It’s unacceptable and should change and Lusaka is known for fostering change on various socials and political matters and this Conference should not fail,” he said.
Sports permanent secretary Agness Musunga said the region was undertaking various programmes to improve results from international competitions saying the establishing of a Regional Coaches Council was one of the intervention measures.
Musunga said the Podium Performance Programme (PPP) for athletes was another move taken by the Region to improve results.