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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
SPORTS administrators have been challenged to embrace digital technology to keep abreast with global sports management trends.

Officiating at the fifth edition of the Sports Leaders Institute of Zimbabwe (Sliz) Summer Camp which ended in Nyanga yesterday, Sliz president Russell Mhiribidi said through technology, sports bodies can easily market their products and find potential partners to assist them develop their game.

Mhiribidi, who is also chairperson of the African Sports Management Association (ASMA) Southern Region chapter responsible for organising training programmes for sports administrators in Southern Africa, challenged participants to be aggressive in marketing sport products on social media and create awareness of what they are doing.

“Sport is a global multi-billion dollar industry and physical education forms the base of the sport development continuum.

“Let us perfect our physical education practice so that we create a solid foundation for sport development.

“Our mainstream sport needs to be treated as a business so that the nation benefits from a wellness, commercial and recreation perspective,” said Mhiribidi.

“The Sport Management Summer Camp presents sport leaders from the grassroots to the elite levels with an excellent networking platform.

“On digital era of sports management, the world has become one global village and let’s embrace technology and use these smartphones to develop and market our sport products.

“Smartphones are mobile workstations and some of the advantages are that they can be used as a diary; they can be used to disseminate information on sports education, fixturing and promotions at the click of a button.

“You can also get feedback from the audience and also monitor athletes’ records as well as their progress,” he said.

The three-day symposium, which started on Sunday, attracted over 400 participants and ran under the theme “Let there be light in Sport”.

— @ZililoR