Windhoek-The Secretary General of the Namibia National Olympic Committee, Joan Smit, says the coaches’ forum, which was held over the weekend was an eye opener for most of the coaches who attended the one-day event in Windhoek.
142 coaches from all 14 regions of the country attended the coaches’ forum, which took place at Sport Klub Windhoek on Saturday as they were taken through the latest trends in coaching and how to equip their athletes, sportsmen and women with the latest methods.
Coaches from different sport codes spent the day empowering themselves with course offers, including bio kinetics and sport, physiotherapy and sport as well as nutrition.
Smit said it was a well-attended forum, which saw the participants going through both theoretical and practical aspects of coaching.
"We started the coaching forum 3 years ago and the idea is to bring our coaches together. They are so committed, so dedicated and they have their athletes at heart. But you know there's not much that we do to empower our coaches, so this is really a forum where we want to make sure that we empower them with the necessary knowledge in the absence of opportunities and a lack of funding to really send them away" Smit said.
Those who attended the get together shared what they picked up from the forum.
Middle Distance Coach Edward Kapewasha was also attending to "grab this opportunity from NNOC. I came up with high expectations of picking one or two things that I can employed to improve my coaching" he said.
Wendy Geises who is a Volleyball Coach also shared her views.
”There was a question that was asked, which is really important. Should we concentrate on the physical side or the psychological side of the athlete and it's good to know that the psychological side of the athlete comes first" Geises said.
Smit said that it will be great for coaches to hold this type of forum regularly to keep up with the world coaching trends.