{"id":27459,"date":"2022-08-13T17:03:26","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T17:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars"},"modified":"2022-08-13T17:08:21","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T17:08:21","slug":"former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars","title":{"rendered":"Former sprinter-cum-footballer grooms future stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>RETIRED sprinter-cum-footballer Letu Hamhola may have had a very short running career, but the former Western Suburbs Athletic Club runner, who kicked his last football with Desert Rollers in the National First Division, is not lost to either sport.<\/b><\/p>\n

Hamhola grew up between Omaruru and L\u00fcderitz, where his preacher father was transferred to.<\/p>\n

It was during his earlier days at Diaz Primary School at L\u00fcderitz that he developed a love for short sprints and soon became the toast of the school in the 100m and 200m dashes.<\/p>\n

Hamhola took his running spikes with him to Martin Luther High School, and later to Ella du Plessis Secondary School in Windhoek, where he and other athletes starred for Western Suburbs under the tutelage of Jephta Kerneels.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to the city to continue my high-school career at Ella du Plessis in 1992 after I left Martin Luther, near Omaruru in the Kunene region, and I joined Western Suburbs, which had very talented young runners at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was quite fast out of the blocks, but I cut my ties with Suburbs when I went to further my studies at the University of Namibia (Unam) in 1994.<\/p>\n

“Agnes Samaria, Erwin Naimwaka, Johanna Manuel and I formed the Unam Athletics Club,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Johanna Manuel is the newly appointed director of sport in the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time we also joined Willie Gernemann’s coaching programme, which was a government initiative sponsored by GTZ. That is where I was discovered as a coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI trained wrongly as a junior, hence I constantly had problems with my hamstring.<\/p>\n

“I decided to kiss my athletics career goodbye, and chose to become a coach instead,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Hamhola completed a level-one athletics course in 1997 under the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), and after Garnemann returned to Germany he and the 53 athletes decided to continue with the programme.<\/p>\n

When Namibian three-time Olympic silver medallist Frank Fredericks started training in Namibia, Hamhola became his training partner.<\/p>\n

The former Martin Luther High School pupil became the co-coach of the Tisan team which participated in the Cuccsa Games in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1996, while he also coached Kapena Rukero at the World Junior Athletics Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2002.<\/p>\n

Hamhola also coached 800m star Agnes Samaria when she qualified for the 2008 Olympics Games, and earlier he led the same athlete at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, in 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply honoured to have coached two athletes at the Olympic Games, Tjipekapora Herunga and Agnes, as well as two Paralympians, Johannes Nambala and Ananias Shikongo, who claimed a bronze at the recent Birmingham Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just find pleasure from those athletes who work in my camp, and I don’t discriminate between my athletes . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cI also have a group of athletes at Otjiwarongo and Oshakati, while I am also the national relay coach,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Hamhola, who has 25 years of coaching experience, says the government started a development programme, known as Vision 2016, which was designed to give athletes exposure to top-class athletes in neighbouring South Africa and Europe.<\/p>\n

After the retirement of former sport director Hitumbuavi Veii, he says, the government has, however, been reluctant to release more funds.<\/p>\n

Hamhola says the programme’s coordinators are working closely with the police, which are eager to rope in some of the top athletes if they meet the recruitment criteria.<\/p>\n

He cut his football career at Atlanta Bucks at L\u00fcderitz before he joined exciting Katutura outfit African Blizzards, and then moved on to Gobabis, where he turned for My Dae Chiefs and Desert Rollers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed playing upfront and, because of my blistering pace, I was quite a handful for the defenders. I spent most of my career playing forward until the Desert Rollers coach decided I was more resourceful playing at the back until I retired.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom football I moved on to netball, and I coached Civics for 12 years during which we also dominated the Khomas League for quite some time.<\/p>\n

“I also coached the under-19 schools’ team in tournaments in South Africa and Swaziland, while I played a little bit of rugby at Unam,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He is currently the fitness coach of Tigers in the Namibian Premier League and says he also played basketball and table tennis during his university days.<\/p>\n

‘TRAIN LIKE A SLAVE’<\/p>\n

Hamhola, who was a national netball championship winning coach with Gobabis-based Wennie du Plessis Secondary School, is employed as chief sport officer at the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service.<\/p>\n

He says his biggest challenge is to establish a high-performance centre in all 14 regions of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am in a very competitive sport. Hence, the setting up of an overdue high-performance centre is high on my wish list. That will help us identify sportsmen and women and grow them.<\/p>\n

“We will see our athletes compete better than they are doing now.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I am the only level-five coach in the country. We have signed an agreement with Unam to train qualified coaches to be recognised by World Athletics.<\/p>\n

“Just imagine having qualified coaches in all the regions,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

His advice to young athletes is the following: \u201cTheir payment is their dedication, commitment and hard work. What I always tell them is to train like a slave, and run like a king or queen.”<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. RETIRED sprinter-cum-footballer Letu Hamhola may have had a very short running career, but the former Western Suburbs Athletic Club runner, who kicked his last football with Desert Rollers in the National First Division, is not lost to either sport. Hamhola grew up between Omaruru and L\u00fcderitz, where his preacher father was transferred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":27458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-27459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer sprinter-cum-footballer grooms future stars - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"RETIRED sprinter-cum-footballer Letu Hamhola may have had a very short running career, but the former Western Suburbs ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former sprinter-cum-footballer grooms future stars\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"RETIRED sprinter-cum-footballer Letu Hamhola may have had a very short running career, but the former Western Suburbs ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-13T17:03:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-13T17:08:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_4-62f7da72db4ae.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Former sprinter-cum-footballer grooms future stars\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-13T17:03:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-13T17:08:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars\"},\"wordCount\":909,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_4-62f7da72db4ae.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/former-sprinter-cum-footballer-grooms-future-stars\",\"name\":\"Former sprinter-cum-footballer grooms future stars - 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