Top talents emerge at Athletics Training Camp

THE four-day Quinton Steele Botes Athletics Training Camp, which took place for the 26th successive year, was completed on Sunday.

Since the passing of the founder of the clinic, athletics coach and administrator Steele Botes in 2014, Leonie van Rensburg has continued to present the course with the assistance of top athletics coaches from South Africa and Namibia.

Some of South Africa’s top coaches included Charly Strohmenger (sprints), Linly de Beer (shot put and discus), Jonathan Greyvenstein (high jump) and Roger Haitengi, the Namibian triple jump record holder, who is currently a sport administrator and coach at the University of Johannesburg.

Some of Namibia’s coaches who were involved include Lucky Gawanab, FC Pieters, Coenraad Steyn, Wilhelm Rademeyer and Antoinette Nel, as well as Deon Brummer, a former South African middle distance champion, who now teaches at Moria Private School in Outjo.

According to Van Rensburg, the turn-out was not that great, but the standard of coaching was top class.

“A lot of parents are still on holiday, so we only had about 150 young athletes, which was less than last year, but they received quality coaching and the feedback from the parents and coaches was great,” she said.

“Through the sponsorship of Marathon Sugar we managed to bring in some top long distance athletes and coaches from Gobabis and the north, who recently represented Namibia at the Region 5 Games in Botswana. The coaches were really impressed with the talent on display and said we must make sure that they remain in the system and don’t get lost,” she added.

One of the coaches that reaffirmed Van Rensburg’s point was Brummer, who was clearly impressed by the talent on display.

“I’m really glad I came to the clinic – there’s so much raw talent here, especially from northern Namibia, but they need specialised training. I told Leonie I’d like to get involved in helping to develop these talents, and I’m sure Namibia will be able to produce another Frankie Fredericks,” he said.

Some of the training drills that Brummer presented included power drills and circuit and rhythm training, as well as warm-up training.

Brummer was a top South African athlete during the Eighties when he set world standard times in the 800m and 1 500m, but due to South Africa’s political situation he could never realise his dream of competing in the Olympic Games.

He has a best time of 1:46,9 in the 800m and 3:37,00 in the 1 500m, while he also completed 20 ‘dream miles’ (under four minutes) which tied Johan Fourie’s South African record.

Some of the Namibian coaches who participated were also impressed by the course and are keen to share their new-found knowledge with their athletes.

Albert Papama, a former Namibian long distance ace, now living in Gobabis, and David Clay from Groot Aub were clearly inspired by the course.

“We learnt a lot, especially with regard to specialised coaching for individual athletes, and I’m keen to share my knowledge with my athletes,” Papama said.

Some of the other sponsors that participated in the clinic were Bank Windhoek, Coca-Cola, Caterserve, Safari Hotel and Avis Car Hire.

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