Saturday, July 30, 2011

Basketball: China searches for next Yao Ming

AFP
Yao Ming may have retired, but there are thousands of young basketball players in China hoping to follow the footsteps of China’s greatest sporting superstar.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

East Africa Cup helps spread girls empowerment through sports

30 June 2011 |
Wanjiku Mwemda

Empowering of the female gender has immensely appeared to be the new focus of this tournament with Tanzania’s sports commissioner, Leonard Tadeyo urging the entire East African region to work together in uplifting the women in our society.

During the opening ceremony of the tournament, Mr Tadeyo said, "We need to use this kind of sporting opportunities in fighting the gender discrimination against women in our cultures. It is for this reason that Tanzania is welcoming all the involved countries into this annual event and urges the women to take up the role of participating into such a tournament".

He also acknowledged the efforts of the East Africa Cup organising committee for introducing the U-13 and U-16 football girls' categories which has enabled the young girls to fight the stigmatisation they are prone to facing in the society.

Kenya topped the list of the girls’ football teams that too place in the East Africa Cup, with a total of 14 teams from different organiations contesting for the annual title. Kenya had a representation of 5 teams in the U-13 girl’s category and 9 teams in the U-16 category. Tanzania followed with a total of 12 teams.

East Africa Community Coach Education System launched under the EAC

30 June 2011 Dedan Njoroge

The East Africa Cup community Coach Education System (EACCES) initiative aims to enhance the standardisation, recognition and support for multi-sport community level coach education and development within East Africa sport and development agencies.

The East Africa Cup (EAC), one of the most successful and well known sport and development tournaments in Africa, was used as a platform to support the recognition, training and development of community coaches in the region.

East Africa Cup is held annually in Moshi, Tanzania and incorporates education, culture and life skills development as well as sport activity. This year over 1,300 participants from Zambia, Burundi, Southern Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Uganda took part in the event organised under the theme learning through sports.

The EACCES initiative focuses in part on maximising coach development opportunities at the Cup. However, the main thrust of the project is to establish a coordinated system to recognise, coordinate and support the on-going training and development of community coaches in the region.

The EACCES is not about duplicating existing training, instead it is about highlighting what training is appropriate for coaches with different levels of experience and recognising this across our organisations in East and central Africa.

That’s why the working group conducted a survey during East Africa Cup in Moshi focusing on developing processes and tools that identify player/participant needs and entitlements as well as profiling capabilities that coaches require, follow up and support systems that they need. The results of this survey which sampled players/participants and coaches from 8 participating countries will allow us to recognise good practice but also develop gap areas, not only in training, but the ongoing support and monitoring of our coaches.

EACCES idea was very well received by the East Africa community (players/participants, coaches, leaders, volunteers, directors) which is vital and a promising step for its development within the region.
East Africa Cup primary partners are CHRISC East Africa, MYSA Kenya, NPA Tanzania and KRIK Norway.

School teachers attend volleyball training

By DAILY NEWS Reporter, 4th July 2011

THE chairman of the National Sports Council (NSC), Idd Kipingu has challenged the participants of the volleyball level one coaches’ course to ensure that they utilize the knowledge they have acquired for the development of the sport in the country.

Opening the FIVB-VSC level one coaches course, Kipingu was impressed by the participation which he said should be depicted in the development of volleyball countrywide.

“You should make sure that you tap the knowledge fully so that you can impart it to the students and help them learn the basics and skills of the game,” he said.

The nine-day course organised by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) in conjunction with the Tanzania Amateur Volleyball Association (TAVA), has been attended by 49 teachers from Mainland and Zanzibar.

Earlier, TAVA Chairman, Augustino Agapa said the course aimed at primary and secondary school teachers to ensure that they have the needed skills to teach the students and is inline with the reinstatement of the primary and secondary schools games.

“Our ultimate goal is to ensure that all zonal and regional coaches of the primary and secondary school team have the volleyball skills for the development of the sport,” said Agapa.

He said the course held at the University of Dar es Salaam grounds is being conducted by an international instructor, Benard Dennis Jesse from Seychelles with funding from the world volleyball body.

Agapa was optimistic that after the course, the teachers will be in a good position to teach the sports and hence they expect more competitive games next year.