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Russell Mhiribidi

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Sports Leaders Institute of Zimbabwe (Sliz) expects a record 400 at its summer camp in Masvingo from November 24-26.

An overwhelming response by participants forced Sliz to revise its target from 350 to 400. By end of yesterday, 315 people had registered for the retreat.

The last summer camp held in Nyanga in 2016 had 320 participants drawn from colleges, universities, secondary and primary schools as well as sports officers from the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services and Zimbabwe Republic Police.

Football club officials and members of sports associations also attended.

Russell Mhiribidi, the Sliz president, said the increase in numbers was a vote of confidence and showed that they are doing a good job in terms of sports manpower development.

“It’s quite encouraging to see that sports leaders are keen to share ideas and capacitate themselves so that they can perform to the best of their abilities. All those that have registered are people who appreciate that there are no shortcuts in sports. To achieve positive results, people have to do things accordingly. These camps are meant to equip participants with the changes that happen in sport and as such, we encourage serious sports leaders to attend,” said Mhiribidi.

“To churn out top athletes that go on to represent the country or win medals, we must have good leaders. An athlete or team is as good as its leadership and that is why we are taking an initiative to educate and capacitate these leaders so that they start doing things the right way and help develop world class athletes.”

Sliz has been trying to secure England-based Zimbabwean track and field coach Stanley “Fresh” Madiri as its main speaker at the summer camp.

Madiri is rated as one of the best coaches in England after he helped a number of British athletes scale greater heights on the track under his consultancy Speed Dynamiks.

He has been coaching in England for the past 15 years and periodically worked with top British sprinters such as Olympic and World 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu as well as Commonwealth and European 200m silver medallist Jodie Williams. — @ZililoR