Poor turnout of local coaches at QSB training camp 

The Quinton Steele Botes Athletics Training Camp is in full swing, taking place for the 33rd consecutive year, but the scarcity of local coaches participating has been disappointing. 

The three-day camp, which started on Monday, has once again attracted top South African coaches like high jump coach Jonathan Greyvenstein and long jump coach Charlie Strohmenger, but not many local coaches or teachers are participating, to make use of their knowledge and expertise.

Besides that, the poor turnout of high school athletes has also been disappointing according to the organiser of the training camp Leonie van Rensburg.

“The overall turnout has been good with more than 100 athletes, but there are not many high school athletes, which is quite a shame because we’ve brought in top coaches from South Africa and Germany to help them. But we are grateful for all the newcomers, and the strong turnout amongst the primary school athletes, because that is the future and we are trying to instill a love for athletics in them,” she said. 

“For the senior and the high school athletes, just remember, there’s always something that can change your life. We have top coaches from South Africa here and we always talk about the coaching eye – they might just see a little thing that you are not aware about, which could help you a lot in the new season,” she added. 

“It’s not that your coach is not good, it’s just there’s something missing somewhere and one can always learn. The deputy minister of sport, Dino Ballotti was here yesterday, and the aim of the government is also to help schools and to get sport back into schools. For the past five years I’ve invited all the schools to send teachers, they can even participate for free, to come and learn and to put their knowledge back into their schools,” she said. 

Greyvenstein also expressed disappointment with the poor turnout of coaches and senior school athletes. 

“For me it’s just a privilege to be with you guys from Namibia, you are the most awesome people that I know, because you are always friendly and so full of enthusiasm. That’s why we always come back and there are so many people, especially the children, who want to achieve something. So it’s quite sad that not a lot of coaches are attending, because we always bring in some new things from what we’ve learned all over the world,” he said.

“It’s also sad that there are not so many high school athletes, because in the long run you are losing that knowledge and expertise. That’s sad for me because I believe you always have to go to the next camp, you take it step by step, but if the seniors dont come anymore, you are actually moving backwards in the long run,” he added. 

Namibian coach Henk Botha, who is coaching sprinting at the training camp, was however upbeat, saying some exciting new talent was being discovered. “It’s always a privilege to be here and it’s a nice kick-off for the year, which helps with the planning and structure and also identifying young stars for the future. As usual a couple of athletes have stuck their hands up so hopefully we can get them to coaches and get them to be prepared for a good season,” he said. 

Namibia’s 100m national champion Magano Naseb was also amongst the athletes at the training camp and Botha said he was excited about his prospects for the upcoming season. 

“Magano has stepped up as a senior athlete, he’s doing his part, and I’m sure he will have a great season in store. I think he will be focussing on the African Games as well as the Commonwealth Games to try and qualify there. 

Hopefully we can also get a relay team to qualify, because currently we’re just short of one or two sprinters to be able to have a great relay team,” he said. 

“There are also three or four other highly talented young athletes that I’m very excited about. I dont want to mention any names at this stage, but one is from Mariental, which is great because we want athletics to develop throughout the country and not just in Windhoek and Swakopmund,” he said. 

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