Israel Saria
I am seeking input and general advice on how a country such as Tanzania can go about developing capacity so as to be able to send players overseas and be accepted. What are the key building blocks in your view etc?
Also I would like your opinion, on other ways to improve Tanzanian football including if there are ways to work with the Tanzania Government in order to set up exchange programmes like the one Manchester United did to South Africa and Nigeria for friendly matches during the summer break.
The President of Tanzania, the Hon Jakaya Kikwete, is a sports fanatic, and am confident with good planning and arguments he can support such initiatives and see them through to implementation. I have engaged with his office on various initiatives around sports development.
Looking forward to hear from you if you have any advice.
Players between the ages of 6-13 in Africa are usually at the same level in terms of ability, they all have similar qualities in terms of physique, technique and passion for football.
What distinguishes the Tanzanian from the Cameroonian or Ivorian is what happens after the age of 13. Both Cameroon and the Ivory Coast have structures and processes in place to encourage the development of their elite talent and promote players to succeed at international level – providing promotion for each respective national team and the country as a whole.
Tanzania need network and expertise to push Tanzania to the top of African football.
In Tanzania people talk too much without actions, Rwanda, Burundi are Flying now…Tanzania still “no hurry in Africa”
The impressive strides that Tanzania has made in Sport in times is quiet impressive if you consider the short span that this has happened. I think the genuineness of the present Administration headed by President Jakaya Kikwete should take full credit for all this.
My views on some of the things that need to be done to cement Tanzania as a Sporting Nation.
1. Tanzania should start seriously thinking of ways to support other sport that is not soccer as the case currently is. The norm, unfortunately on the ground is Sport is soccer and soccer is sport which is actually misleading and wrong. During my heydays as a Sports reporter and presenter for the Kenya Television Network in Kenya, we truednour level best to highlight other Sport that wasn’t Soccer. We did a wonderful job at covering swimming, body building amd weightlifting, judo, karaye, tennis, cricket, badminton, rugby, horse racing, netball, board games that include chess et al, and many other Sport that people were engaged in. The ripple effect is that people who were actively involved in these various sports become more active, recruited new enthusiasts and ultimately helped the competitions that were variously and regularly held every weekend. What am I trying to say here? The Tanzanian media needs to play a pivotal role in changing this state of affairs and start covering other sport. Everyone will either be a fan of Simba or Yanga! Why? Honestly media Editors needs to address this state of affairs and help in making Tanzanians more aware of other Sport that is available in Tanzania.
2. You cannot expect the Mrisho Ngassas to go out there and excel when they don’t have the tools of trade that his counterparts in Europe have been horning professionally for years on end. Where are the ‘chekechea’ Sport schools or institutions that start to train our youngsters from an early age? Filbert Bayi and probably the Makongo Secondary administration are the only people in Tanzania who have shown the way in how these things are meant to be done. You see you might have all the talent in the world but that talent needs to be harnessed and directed toward a goal. So let’s start emphasizing sport in schools (outside soccer) and with this the govt will be able to fill the gap where necessary. If school children will be exposed to tennis or cricket or netball, their interest will drive them to want a tennis racquet or bat or ball. The rest shall follow in my opinion.
3. As much as you cannot excel in everything it is my honest opinion that Tanzania identifies specific sport that it will help raise and position to national level. I see these Sport conveniently being soccer, tennis, athletics, basketball, swimming and cricket. These are Sport that if given the right support by corporate sponsors and Government can end up being the identity for Tanzania. Kenyans and Ethiopians are famous for athletes, The English are famous for Soccer, cricket and rugby, the Americans, American football, baseball and basketball, the Asians, cricket ofcourse. What do we want Tanzania to be famous for? Everything? Nope. Let’s start now.
4. Let us support Sport administrators who have a true partriotism for the Sport and not their stomachs. And the govt should initiate policy and laws that purnish harshly sports corrupt and irresponsible administrators. I think this explains itself.
5. And lastly when all this is place, corporate sponsorship should be sought to support the various sports going on. But the turnkey solution here that will work will be to package an attractive sport incentive that will attract sponsorship. So without a sellable package, no corporate will want to invest their funds on a loosing brand. As an advertising professional, I strongly believe that development of sport in Tanzania is feasable and probable and with the right packaging and branding, money will flow.
My honest two cents! wexbikokwa@ gmail.com. http://abantu.blogspot.com. Twitter: @iAlen.
The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), previously Football Association of Tanzania, is the governing body of football in Tanzania. It controls the Tanzania national football team. It was founded in 1930 and has been affiliated with FIFA since 1964. Mr. L Tenga, a former National Team player in the 1970’s is the President of the body. In January 2008 the Tanzania Football Federation in partnership with Peter Johnson created the Tanzania Soccer Academy (TSA), a national academy to develop football and provide full education scholarships to players.
The absence of these competitive games also has an effect on the skills development of Physical Education teachers and coaches as they are not exposed to other competitions or events. At the University of Dar es Salaam there is a physical education faculty training P.E teachers. However, there are few opportunities for them to meet different levels of trainers for exchange and for purposes of increasing challenge and performance. By having competitive games the trainers would be exposed to challenges from different coaches with different types of experience.
The concerns about UMITASHUMTA could be overcome with careful management and administration of the games. For example, there needs to be an appropriate balance between academic study and time allowed for sports and there needs to be a transparent and proper system set up for the funding of the competition.
It would also be important for the Ministry of Education and Culture to work closer with the Ministry of Sports in the organisation of competitive games and perhaps for one body to be set up which would bring together all of the associations so as to co-ordinate information and activities. The Ministry of Sport could provide assistance to the establishment perhaps of one office which would house all amateur associations, thereby saving on overhead costs and making it easier for them to be contacted. It is not appropriate to criticize national sports associations for bad performance as proper investment and management of it needs to be supported by the government. When there were UMITASHUMTA games most of the referee courses and clinics were taking place during the tournament as everyone was brought together in same venue and this was saving costs and time. By doing that the sports calendar ran properly but more recently most of the associations are not reaching their objectives because they can not afford to run courses in the different areas of the country.
The action taken to local and national disasters is noble but it’s a real shame that so many people take advantage of the negative situations.
I mean everytime there is an earthquake, a flood, an oil spill – there’s always a group of heartless people who rip off tax payers.
This is in response to reading that 4 of Oprah Winfreys “angels” got busted ripping off the system. Shame on them!
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/19/crimesider/entry5251471.shtml
Hello there I’m Jean and I’ve been reading the forum for a while now and I think it’s time that I said Hey and introduced myself. I’m 24 and run a fitness equipment business with my sister and live in sunny San Diego, CA with my 2 fantastic kids. I love climbing and golf but hate mushrooms…and I guess that’s all you need to know