Coca-Cola invests in schools sport

COCA-COLA on Wednesday announced a sponsorship of close to N$400 000 to the Namibia School Sport Union (NSSU) for athletics, rugby and netball events coming up this year.

The sponsorship amounts to N$60 000 for schools netball, N$145 000 for schools rugby, and N$172 000 for schools athletics, while more money has also been earmarked for other sporting events.

It is the 28th consecutive year that Coca-Cola has been sponsoring school sport in Namibia and at a press conference at Coca-Cola’s head office on Wednesday, their sales and marketing director, Pottie de Bruyn said that a special partnership that had been built over the years.

“As a corporate you have a responsibility to reinvest in your country, but after 26 years you can see that this is not a once-off situation, it is a partnership. I’d say this partnership between Coca-Cola, the NSSU and the Namibia Sport Commission is one of the most successful since independence and over the years it has become much more than just a sponsorship,” he said.

He added that investment in the youth was the most important investment that could be made.

“The most important activities are those that deal with the advancement of the youth, so we will continue investing in our youth, and I also want to commend the NSSU and our teachers for their work in this regard,” he said.

The chief administrator of the Namibia Sport Commission, Fred Mwiya said that investment in the youth was of cardinal importance.

“Youth empowerment is the only way that we will produce elite athletes and to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal is a long process that starts at a tender age,” he said.

The national coordinator of the NSSU, Solly Duiker, said the sponsorships will enable them to host and attend several national and regional sporting events over the coming months.

First up is the Coca-Cola National Schools Athletics Championships which take place at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium this weekend, starting on Friday at 12h00 and continuing at 08h00 on Saturday.

Athletics’ sponsorship also covers regional trials that were held, while Coca-Cola will make a further investment to fund Namibia’s participation in the Cossasa (Confederation of School Sport Associations of Southern Africa) Ball Games which will take place in Botswana next month.

Rugby’s sponsorship will enable Namibia to compete in the u13 and u18 Craven Week competitions in South Africa, as well as the u16 Grant Khomo and the u18 Academy Week.

The netball sponsorship will fund the national schools championships as well as the regional play-off competitions.

Duiker, meanwhile, announced that South Africa would return to the Cosassa Ball Games for the first time since 2006.

“I just returned from a meeting in Botswana, where South Africa confirmed that they will once again participate at the Ball Games. Besides them, athletes from Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland and Malawi will also participate at the Ball Games,” he said.

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