Ellina Mhlanga — National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president Tendayi Tagara has said it's encouraging to see former athletes taking initiatives to assist upcoming athletes to also achieve their dreams.
Tagara was speaking at the book launch by former middle-and-long-distance runner Letiwe Marakurwa-Patton, who is based in the United States.
The launch was held in Harare recently.
She has also been involved in assisting upcoming athletes pursue their dreams in the sport outside the country.
"We are happy that Marakurwa is focusing on recruitment, she has recruited more than 20 athletes, junior athletes that have gone to America.
"She has over the years been in contact with the federation and up to now she has been coming back to the association.
"That's the spirit we expect from our athletes to remain working with the federation to say where I am these are the opportunities which we can still have.
"Letiwe is opening more doors for the athletes to participate at a higher level with other organisations, with other universities. So, it's a positive for us as an association that she is coming home to do this."
Marakurwa-Patton launched her book titled Running to America: An Athlete's Journey from Zimbabwe.
Tagara said having some of their athletes stay in contact with the association and getting involved in assisting upcoming athletes pursue opportunities out of the country is making a difference for athletics.
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"We used to have the Chamber of Mines. But we are trying by all means with other sectors to revive that competition. We hope one day it will come back but the spirit is we must move on whether the Chamber of Mines is still there or not.
"We have produced champions for Zimbabwe without Chamber of Mines. We have produced 200m finalists at the Olympics.
"So, Zimbabwe is still there and with a lot of partners who are coming in . . . We see the effort that is being made by Brian Dzingai to recruit, Ken Harnden to recruit, Ngoni Makusha the jumper is also helping to recruit their athletes in Zimbabwe.
"So, we feel as an association that our athletes are coming back to work with us. They feel important to plough back to their federation. We can only grow through such effort," said Tagara.
Marakurwa-Patton expressed her desire to see more female athletes making it in the sport and contributing bigger numbers to national teams that represent the country at major competitions.
The former runner challenged the national association to also ensure they check on the athletes, in particular junior athletes when they leave the country as it is difficult in some cases to adjust to the new environment. "I think it will be nice to appoint maybe someone when you send a group of athletes out of the country to study and run there, to just check in from time to time.
"But other than that, I am looking forward to getting going with helping athletes as much as I can," said Marakurwa-Patton.
She also emphasised the importance of education.
"Let's push these athletes, just encourage them to just do their best in the classroom so we can get more out there."
