Financial Gazette (Harare)
13 November 2009
Harare — The Under-17 national hockey team is seeking US$60 000 for their Youth Olympic Games (YOG) African nations qualifiers, which kick-off in East London, South Africa, on February 21 next year.
The African qualifiers are a build up to the world YOG to be held in Singapore in August 2010, the first junior Olympics ever to be held.
According to Sean Bell, the parents committee co-ordinator for the team, the budget for campaign so far "has zero dollars" and is appealing to the corporate world to come on board to support the initiative.
YOG was created with the objective to reach out to young athletes worldwide and celebrate them in a sporting event that balances sport, education and culture. The event also offers a unique and powerful introduction of the youth to Olympism.
Next week, the team will be leaving for South Africa, where they are expected to go for a week-long training session. They will then re-group in January before participating in the qualifiers the following month.
"We started hearing of the event about a month or so ago and we have started doing all documentation and all the requisite processes in preparation for the campaign," said Bell.
He said the hockey team has not received any support either from the Hockey Association of Zimbabwe or the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee. But the parents, who would want to see their children represent the country at the highest level of competition in the world, have taken the initiative to fundraise for the youngsters. "We are expecting corporate organisations to come up with some substantial contribution in this. We have a lot of kit to buy besides having to take care of the expenses for the team to go into camp and other expenses such as the airfares."
He said all the funds for the campaign will be handled by the parents committee and all expenses will be available for scrutiny if required.
"Parents are fully behind this whole process and are committed to its success. If the kids qualify, it gives them a greater chance of getting through to the Olympics."
Bell said the youngsters were committed and dedicated to qualifying for the games and that "there is very much good chance that our country might qualify for the games because we believe our team can compete very well". The whole idea behind the YOG is to catch them young, Bell said, they do not have to wait to be older in order to participate in the Olympic games.
The initial Under-17 national hockey team is made up of 24 players, a manager and two coaches and was drawn from various schools around the country through the hockey association selection procedures.
Meanwhile, Bell decried the state of facilities in the country that are now "derelict" because of lack of maintenance. He said the team has been practicing on grass while the continental qualifiers and the world championships are held on artificial turf, hence, the need for the team to travel to South Africa for part of their training sessions.
The most notable achievement in hockey in the history of the country was in 1980 when Zimbabwe earned the first ever Olympic gold medal in Moscow, Russia, when the "Golden Girls" prevailed over other competitors from around the world.
The provisional U-17 national hockey squad
Matabeleland: S Stone, N Campbell, T Mutembwa, W Ullrich (all from Falcon), M Stylianou (CBC), J Bowman and D Hewitt (Petra); Masvingo: E Takavarasha, S Mangana and A Mutizwa (Hippo); Mashonaland East: A Steynberg, T Marume, D Saul and S Fayd'herbe (Peterhouse); Mashonaland: K Gowero (Eaglesvale), R Naik, D Bell, R Ismail, A Macleod (St Johns), T Bhunu, C Newman, D Woolley (St Georges) and K Tembo (Prince Edward).
Manager: Buds Mukadam;
Coaches: Chris Davison and Fidelis Majuba
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