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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
LEADING sports management organisation, Sports Leaders Institute of Zimbabwe (Sliz), has started enrolling local administrators for online courses it will run in conjunction with West Virginia University and Kent State University.

The online programmes will be held via Zoom and are set to start next month.

Russell Mhiribidi, the Sliz president, said all courses will be certified by the two higher learning institutions that have been in partnership with them in the last three years.

Sliz first partnered with West Virginia University in 2017 and entered into an alliance with Kent University last year to offer scientific sports programmes.

Mhiribidi said they will run three courses with West Virginia University, level one, two and level three programmes.

“We’re starting online programmes in September. It’s just a continuation of programmes with West Virginia University and Kent State University. Here in Zimbabwe we have people who’ve done level one and two of the programme, and now we are moving to level three, which is all about extracting the value of sports management.

“Level one is all about basic fundamentals of sports management, with level two focusing on drawing up functional sports business management. Level three is about monitising sports management and increasing revenue streams above overreliance on gatetakings for football clubs.

You know, gatetakings in any sport are like subsistence farming where you’re just farming to feed your family, but now we are saying let’s widen the horizon and get real value for sports,” said Mhiribidi.

He said they will do “serious” case studies peculiar to Zimbabwe and come up with implementable solutions.

“With Kent University, we introduced sports science modules, focusing on strength condition and the effects of nutrients in sports last year. Participants also get to be exposed to the psychological effects in sports, like how it’s important for athletes to have adequate sleep or rest so that their performance improves,” Mhiribidi says.

Mhiribidi Sliz has been a guest online sports management lecturer for West Virginia University during the lockdown and he urged Zimbabwe’s sports administrators and coaches to register for the classes to help capacitate themselves. – @ZililoR