Hesron Kapanga

Maurice Kambukwe

The annual Marathon Sugar Quinton-Steele Botes (QSB) athletics and training camp is a great platform to discover new sports talents, award-winning coach Henk Botha said yesterday.

The 29th edition of the camp initiated by the late sports guru Quinton-Steele Botes, has this year attracted over 120 athletes and 43 level-one coaches.

Athletes of various age groups receive training for field and track events as well as psychological and motivational support at the Wanderers Sports Field from yesterday to Friday as they prepare for the upcoming athletics season.

Botha told New Era Sport the platform is of great importance, as it gives up-and-coming athletes the opportunity to showcase their talents. 

“This is where we plant the seeds of
athletics and get children back to the training fields,” he said, while appealing for more such training opportunities.

Eleven coaches are conducting the training sessions for athletes, while 43 level-one coaches will receive theoretical and practical training sponsored by the Namibia National Olympic Committee through the Olympic Solidarity sponsorship.

Event organiser, Leoni van Rensburg told Nampa yesterday this year’s camp is the first that will see level-one local coaches receive training from local trainers.

“The coaches receiving training will get theoretical sessions on the basics of track and field events in the morning while in the afternoon, they will have practical sessions on what they learned in their theoretical classes,” said Van Rensburg.

The coaches receiving training will later in the year host training the trainers’ workshops in their regions.

Coaches and athletes from nine different regions in Namibia are in attendance at the training camp, which is expected to teach them new skills that can help them perform better during the new athletics season.

“We got a sponsorship from Marathon Sugar that is helping us in catering for the athletes’ transport and accommodation, while coaches travelling from outside the Khomas region will be catered for by the NNOC. For athletes that are based in Windhoek, we are helping them with transportation as well as lunch during the camp,” she said.

– Additional reporting Nampa