NOC-K on right track with Olympic Solidarity programmes

On Wednesday evening, the Tokyo 2020 Press Operations Team will hold a briefing to bring global journalists up to speed with preparations for next year’s Olympic Games.

The briefing will cover such topics as the status of Covid-19 countermeasures, press services, accreditation, transport, accommodation, venue and photo operations, among others.

What’s clear is that Tokyo organisers are leaving nothing to chance and are full steam ahead in preparations for the Games initially scheduled for this year, but pushed to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

And this means that Kenya too should stop at nothing to ensure our athletes are well prepared for the rescheduled Games.

It’s reassuring to see the various programmes that the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) has been running for various stakeholders on the road to Tokyo.

Last weekend, NOC-K organised a taekwondo Level I, II, and III technical course at the Kenyatta University with funding from the Olympic Solidarity programme.

Faith Ogallo

The course drew 50 coaches of the sport as part of NOC-K’s drive “for capacity building of human resources in the athlete pathway.”

With Faith Ogallo having qualified for the Tokyo Games from taekwondo, such programmes will help motivate others and elevate them to podium potential.

Last week, NOC-K also organised a sports administrators’ course for national federation presidents and secretaries general with about 50 officials roped in.

“The course is part of the larger NOC-K strategy for 2020 on capacity building of national federations,” NOC-K secretary Francis Mutuku explained.

“This year, we have already held several courses targeting different groups of sports managements in national federations, including a treasurers’ course, an administration course for women federation leaders and sports science training for national coaches.

“These courses are geared towards promoting good governance and effective administration.”

The latest courses come after last week’s programme in which NOC-K assembled over 40 women sports officials drawn from Olympic and Commonwealth Games sports with a view to increasing women’s participation in the Olympic movement.

And later this month, NOC-K, through the Sports Journalists’ Association of Kenya, will also run a workshop for sports journalists as the Olympics body seeks to trumpet Olympism in the Kenyan media.

Lockdown mode

Coupled with bespoke training camps for already-qualified teams and individuals, NOC-K have done well in keeping the Olympic space busy even with the coronavirus pandemic having visited havoc on national sports programmes.

Such proper planning is essential, especially at this time when various other countries have re-launched sports competition even as Kenyan sport remains largely in lockdown mode.

It’s a bit disturbing, however, to see our top paralympian Asiya Sururu Mohammed struggle to get her training on track for the Tokyo Paralympics that will fall immediately after the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Certainly, the Kenya National Paralympic Committee (KNPC) needs to work harder and emulate the programmes being run by NOC-K.

They need to develop better camaraderie with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in order to gain such funding as NOC-K have received from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through the Olympic Solidarity programme.

Such support doesn’t come easy, and long-term strategy is essential in opening up the purse strings to aid our long-suffering paralympians and other special need athletes.

Relying on government to finance each and every programme is foolhardy and will almost always end up in disappointment given the Ministry of Sport’s paltry allocation from the exchequer.

Not even the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund will satisfy the needs of all sports organisations in the country, hence the need to develop a fall back plan to cushion sports programmes.

Partnerships with the private sector can yield fruit as seen last weekend when Flamingo Beach Resort and Spa (by Pride Inn) came to the aid of Mombasa-based Sururu by offering her training facilities as she prepares for the Tokyo Paralympics.

Her training boat damaged and another requisitioned for her yet to be transported to Mombasa as KNPC are unable to raise customs charges, Sururu’s preparations since she qualified for Tokyo in Tunisia last October have been at sixes and sevens.

That’s why Flamingo’s gesture, spearheaded by the hotel’s General Manager Victor Shitakha, must be commended and used as an example of how the private sector can help Olympic and Paralympic programmes.

The gesture is more significant given the fact that the hospitality industry has taken a battering from Covid-19 and resources hard to come by.

As chairman of the Kenya Coast Tourist Association, Shitakha has also undertaken to rally other players in the hospitality industry to support Sururu, being the coast region’s sole representative at the Paralympic Games, as corporate social responsibility and also as a way of encouraging sports talent in the region.

Such interventions offer hope, and the ball is now squarely on the court of the KNPC to pull up their socks and offer platforms for their affiliates to benefit in the same way as NOC-K’s constituents have profited from vibrant programmes.

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I’d like to wish Harambee Stars success in their outing against early Group ‘G’ pacesetters Comoros in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Kasarani on Wednesday.

This is a must-win game as we can’t afford to drop any further points at home.

Victory will also instil confidence in (not so) new coach Jacob “Ghost” Mulee and keep our campaign for the 2021 finals in Cameroon on track.

Let’s go Kenya, let’s go!

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