Learners have their say on improving the promotion of sports

The Zone asked learners if they think Namibia promotes sport as it should, and what can be done to improve the promotion of sport in the country?
JUSTISIA SHIPENA
Corné Burger

No, I don’t think we are. I think we need to start at schools by funding school sport tours, so we won’t have to start grooming players and athletes so late in their lives.

Chrislene Klein-Nienaber

I don’t think we’re doing it as well as we could. I think our government picks favourite sports like soccer and rugby, and only fund them. We need to equalise funding for all sport.

Marco Malan

Not really. I think we need to start cultivating players earlier. We shouldn’t start with promoting under-19 sport, we should be starting with u-7 sport.

Adri van der Merwe

No, we could do more. We don’t have enough opportunities. We have a lot of room for improvement and we can start by touring other countries.

Wilmé Els

I don’t think we’re doing enough. The initiative is there, but we lack execution. We need to get the right people in the right places. It often feels like the people in power aren’t qualified to do what they’re doing.

Riaan Robberts

Not at all. Our economy is too weak and our governing body is dysfunctional. One can’t just call for change in an entire system, because change isn’t easy. We will need foreign support.

Mikayla Bosman

Yes, I think we have enough sport opportunities and sufficient funding.

Mayvonne Swart

Yes, but I think we’re spending our money wrong. We should be exposing our athletes to the rest of the world.

Kyle Sonders

No, our economy is too weak to support sport as a lifestyle. We need to spend more on sport that actually goes places and less on sport that doesn’t get us anywhere. We also need to spend more on backing talented players.

Giovanni Suardi

No, we need to stop filling teams by using quotas and start choosing them on merit. Namibia doesn’t have the funds to support full-time sporting either.

René Gillmore

Personally, I think no. We don’t give enough to the big teams that go places, like the Welwitschias earlier this year.

Pablo Laporte

Our country is doing quite a bit for sport in general. There are a lot of young athletes, but I think they should broaden their spectrum. Football or boxing can use some help, and as an inline hockey player myself, I think more could be done for us. Yes, it is a smaller sport, but it is getting outstanding results and improving a lot.

Juandro van Rooi

No Namibia is really not promoting sport as it should. More funds should be allocated, especially when it comes to competing at international competitions. Athletes from Namibia need these type of experiences to build on their expertise. And at the same time it gives Namibia much-needed exposure and motivates athletes to do better and aim for the Olympics.