Suburban
PRIVATE schools under their Conference of Heads of Independent Schools Zimbabwe have a taken a position against the participation of students below the Under 16/17 age groups in national sporting teams because early national representation puts pressure on the young girls and boys.
Suburban Reporter
In a position paper, the CHISZ said instead the Under 16/17 age groups must be engaged in ongoing development by playing for their schools against other local schools and not in matches against other countries at the national level.
It is understood that some CHISZ schools have already started implementing the stance by not allowing their rugby playing students to be part of the Zimbabwe team to participate in Under 14 Craven Week held in South Africa.
The CHISZ stated that its position might be mistaken as a stance that the body does not want its school teams to be well but that was far from the case because they were mainly worried about the pressure the young athletes have to endure. The pressure might end up affecting the students from striking a balance between their sporting activities and academic work.
The position paper argues that it is the CHISZ schools have contributed their fair share to the success of sport in Zimbabwe and have been producing players who have been it into the national teams of various sporting disciplines.
“If it may seem that CHISZ schools do not want their teams to do well – that would be far from the case, as is evidenced by the fact that it has been the CHISZ schools that have kept sport going in this country for many years. CHISZ schools take delight in the successes of our national teams and look on with further interest when their former pupils represent the country at the highest level.
“CHISZ schools are however simply against early national representation – instead they are for the ongoing development of the child’s sporting ability in conjunction with their other abilities. We support ongoing competition at junior levels – it does not have to be in matches against other countries. Preferably it would be within this country, within our existing seasons. We support ongoing coaching, again within this country and within our existing seasons,” CHISZ says in its position paper. It adds that players can be watched and noted but do not need to know that they have made a national level.
“We support ongoing clubs – the national sports bodies need to develop and strengthen clubs for our pupils to go on to after school, which will in turn strengthen the national player base and ability.”
The private schools body said everyone looks to the Olympic Games as the ultimate sporting pinnacle (in a similar way as World Cups for other sports) and the national sports bodies want their young athletes to compete at the highest level but the sporting fraternity tends to forget the values of the Olympic movement.
“Yet it is forgotten that the Olympic movement has as its first Fundamental principle the following: ‘Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind.’ Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.” The CHISZ queried how much of that philosophy is evident in sports bodies?
“Furthermore, the Olympic catchphrase is ‘The most important thing is not to win but to take part.’ We have now made it that ‘the most important thing is to be selected for your country not to develop’. It is interesting to note that the average age of Olympic competitors is going up – in some sports Olympic competitors were incredibly young but it has been seen that that has not helped the youngsters or the sport. They have recognised that pushing children at a young age does not work or help. The three core values of the Olympic Movement are stated as ‘Excellence, Friendship, Respect’ – we are so caught up in the first one that we ignore the others. The Olympic movement has as its motto: ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ – we have turned that into ‘Younger, Lower, Sooner’ Other world sports bodies are discovering the same. The FIH, hockey’s world governing body, has as its slogan: ‘Fair Play, Friendship, Forever’ – we have made it say ‘Excellence, Winning, Now.’”
CHISZ schools said they endorse the drive for excellence in sport as they endorse excellence in all areas of life. They said it should be a huge honour to play for one’s country, but reserved for higher up the age scale.
“There is plenty of time for children to represent their country. We have to think of the youngsters as whole beings and of the youngsters’ whole life. It was a wise person who said that ‘whom the gods wish to destroy, they first call promising.’ Great things are promised to our pupils by early national representation but CHISZ will not allow our youngsters to be manipulated to their own detriment in the long term.”
