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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
THE Sports Leaders’ Institute of Zimbabwe (Sliz) has urged administrators to discourage age-cheating saying it posed the biggest threat to sport and the development of athletes in the country.

In a presentation on sport ethics at the second edition of the Sliz winter camp held at Matobo National Park at the weekend, the institute’s director Russell Mhiribidi said sporting disciplines that thrived on age-cheating faced a gloomy future.

The camp was attended by 70 participants from Naph, Nash and tertiary institutions to brainstorm and spell out possible solutions to challenges faced by sports administrators across the board.

“The problem we’re facing as a nation is that certain administrators seem to condone age-cheating. Such administrators are affecting development of sport and the athletes involved because of their selfish motives of winning at all costs,” said Mhiribidi.

“Resources are being wasted on the pretext of nurturing young talent when in actual fact it’s grown-ups that have outgrown the development stages. As administrators in these key and strategic institutions like Naph, Nash and tertiary institutions, let’s plant the correct seed and shun age-cheating,” he said.

He said it was worrying that some schools even went to the extent of fielding “ghost students” in tournaments just for hollow glory.

“Surely, why do you discourage children who deserve to participate at such games by including ghost students, who only appear during competitions? At the grassroots level, the major objective is to develop talent and win later.

“If your target is to win at grassroots, then you’re wrong and aren’t doing the correct thing. You should be ashamed because you’re doing sport, athletes and the country a major disservice,” Mhiribidi said.

Guest speaker Sombwe Musunza, a member of the Zambia National Olympic Committee, presented a paper on the success of and challenges faced by young athletes from the Southern African region.

He urged administrators to make use of the Africa Union Sports Council Region 5 equipment to develop and familiarise local athletes with world standard facilities so they are not stunned when competing at international events.

Other facilitators at the workshop were Lysias Charumbira from Nust, who spoke on sport branding and marketing, as well as Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival director Sebastian Garikayi, who touched on events management.

Sliz secretary-general Lorine Dewe said they were happy with the increase in the number of participants after their inaugural winter school in 2014 drew only five people, and they were now looking forward to their summer camp set for Kariba in November.