Athletes complete without coach

Amid the country’s continued failure on the international stage, it has emerged that most athletes from various sporting disciplines participate in major competitions without technical staff.

Experts have since attributed this malaise to local athletes’ failure to make the grade at global events where they have been participating on solidarity for over four decades.

The latest case is  long distance runner Ndacha Mcherenje who travelled to London this week to take part in International Associations Athletics Federation (IAAF) Marathon without a coach.

Surprisingly, while Mcherenje made the trip without his coach Always Zingire, Athletics Association of Malawi (AAM) president Godfrey Phiri and general secretary Frank Chitembeya, also travelled to London.

A fortnight ago, a team of athletes travelled to Bahamas for the Commonwealth Youth Games without technical staff from their respective disciplines. The results were far from flattering and no athlete came close to winning any medal.

In judo, Austin Chikwapula was disqualified in his first duel for failing to adhere to the rules; in tennis, Mwaiwathu Kadam’manja lost to Cross Morgan of Wales 0-2. Swimmer Michael Swift finished seventh out of eight.

Long distance runner, Mercy Malembo, who competed in the 3 000 metres heat, was second from last after finishing 12th.

Last month, heavyweight boxer Mussa Ajibu went to Russia where he fought without a doctor and a trainer. He was knocked down in third round.

Chikwapula confessed that the absence of his coach at the event affected his performance.

“It is difficult to perform at such a grand stage when you have no one to motivate you. The situation was different with my competitors who had their coaches on the sidelines offering them tips and tactics. Psychologically, I was affected.

“I was tensed up. It was pure stage fright that led to my disqualification. It is not like I am hopeless. The other reason was that we camped just for a week before a major tournament like that,” said Chikwapula whose coach, Evans Chikumbu, was left behind.

Meanwhile, Mcherenje’s coach Zingire could not hide his frustration for not accompanying his athlete to London.

“It is a requirement that coaches should accompany their athletes in a competition like this one and I was supposed to accompany Mcherenje.

“It is imperative that coaches should accompany athletes so as to provide guidance and inspiration,” he said.

Both Chitembeya and Phiri could not be reached for comment, but  while supporting Zingire’s sentiments, vice-president Emmanuel Mulonya said shortage of funds hinders the fulfilment of such requirement.

“It has been our desire to see that happening but we are limited in terms of funding,” he explained.

He also justified his colleagues trip, saying they went to London to attend important meetings.

“Your suggestion that one of the officials should not have travelled to pave the way for the coach does not hold because the meetings that they are attending require the presence of both.”

Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) executive secretary George Jana said it is not proper to send athletes without technical staff.

“Ours is only advice that we can give and we have been giving such advice. Unfortunately, associations hide behind lack of finances because in athletics, for example, the IAAF would sponsor only the athletes’ air fares and not for the coach.

“In this regard, it would mean the association or council paying for the coach and that is the money we lack and the association would hide behind that. But associations can do better by being resourceful to meet such shortfalls,” he said.

Jana said in some of these competitions, it is mandatory to have representation and failure to send athletes would mean a reduction on the administration grant the associations would receive “hence the decision to send just the athlete.

“It is, of course, not the best thing to do and in fact even sending the coach alone is not enough. Ideally, the athletes must be accompanied by the coach, a doctor, a trainer, dietician, psychologist and a physiotherapist.”

Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC) commissioner for technical issues, John Kaputa, blamed sports associations for the situation.

“As MOC, we are not to blame, it is supposed to be the responsibility of individual sports associations. It is indeed demoralising for the athletes to represent the country at major tournaments without technical people.

“Usually, organisers pay for the athletes and, therefore, associations are supposed to raise funds for the technical people,”  he said.