The Quinton Steele Botes Athletics Coaching and Training Camp was successfully concluded for the 31st year at Windhoek's Independence Stadium on Saturday.
About 120 young athletes attended the camp where they received specialised coaching from top South African coaches like Jonathan Greyvenstein and Charlie Strohmenger and Namibian coaches, including Christine Mboma's coach Henk Botha, Ryan Williams, Robert Wheal, FC Pieters, Carel Swanepoel and Tangeni Nakale.
The training camp was established in 1993 by former Namibian athletics coach and administrator Quinton Steele Botes, who died of cancer in 2014.
Although the turn-out was not that great, event organiser Leonie van Rensburg said it was a privilege to host the event.
"We had about 120 athletes and it was another big success. It's still early in the year, and the schools all have different opening dates, so we struggled to get a nice date for everyone to come and join us, but we are very satisfied for the athletes and the talent on display. The coaches said it was a very good group, and there was a lot of talent identified in every item," she said.
"Athletes, coaches, parents and teachers from all over Namibia attended the course, and they said they gained a lot of knowledge and enjoyed it a lot. We also saw a lot of improvement - one of the young boys who attended the high jump course improved his personal best height by 30cm, because he implemented the knowledge that he gained, for instance, with regard to the correct start, the right angles and landing," she added.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Van Rensburg thanked the sponsors, saying it would not be possible to host the camp without them.
"If it was not for the sponsors we could not afford to hold this camp. In South Africa these camps cost anything between R1 000 and R3 000 per athlete for only two days and this one was only R500 for four days. So Ireally want to thank our main sponsor, Chrystal Gold, and the secondary sponsors Coca-Cola, Food Lover's Market, Fabu Pharm, Interpack Namibia, Auas Motors and the ATKV," she said.
Van Rensburg said it was a special camp that for the first time reached the third generation mark.
"Quinton Steele Botes' grand children joined the camp for the first time, so it has reached the third generation now and was a special occasion for his family," she said.
The camp was also attended by Dutch middle and long distance coach Grete Koens along with some of the Netherlands' top middle distance prospects who are currently on a training camp in Namibia, preparing for the upcoming European season.
"Grete Koens came to help us with the long distance events and some of our athletes did warm-ups with some great Dutch athletes who are all Olympians - they trained with our athletes and enjoyed it very much," Van Rensburg said.
