Africa-Press – Namibia. Namibia’s successful hosting of the Region 5 Youth Games has equipped local organisers with the skills and structures to stage future international sporting events.
Local organising committee (LOC) general manager Jackie Gertze says hosting the games was a most valuable event in terms of sport.
Namibia hosted the 11th edition of the African Union Sport Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games of Namibia, which impressed not only the public but also president Netumbo Nandhi-Ndaitwah.
Speaking to Desert FM recently, Gertze said: “One could take away so many lessons from this event, not only during the competition, but also prior to the competition.”
She said after the event, the LOC had to make sure visitors returned safely.
“We have been put in a position and now we have a ‘competition management committee’.
“Previously we only had national competition management, but now we have experts – not only from sport but experts as far as marketing, games service, catering and so forth. We need to keep a very strong committee with at least 14 to 15 key structures,” she said.
“This would help our country in hosting international competitions. Ideas and lessons learned are going to be part of the blueprint of our official report to the government.”
Gertze said the LOC will recommend several ideas to the government.
“You don’t find bigger than that – 14 sport codes and nine visiting countries. For the first time an international competition has included special Olympics and athletes who are blind or partially sighted.
“We want sport to be looked at totally differently – more as a tool for economic development and social impact,” Gertze said.
“We need to make people happy through sport, and also give them an income from that. How to distribute resources in this regard to make sure everybody in the country, no matter the status or where they are from, benefits from that.. ,” she said.
“It is important to use resources effectively and still deliver by ensuring that time is always on our side. We don’t need the biggest of infrastructure, but to build the most effective and functional sport infrastructure.”
Gertze urged members of the public to take care of the sport facilities which had been upgraded and renovated for the Region 5 Youth Games.
“We really have a lot of ideas to share with the government,” she said.
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