Sports managers should align expectations with commitments

In Rwanda, sports development has taken the back seat in recent time and this is a very sad trend. The youth are no longer being challenged to exhibit their talents, especially at national level. Sports associations are practically dead. There are no competitions to discover hidden talent and to also to keep the athletes in shape for international meets. Corporate sponsors have lost faith in sports and have turned their back and are instead of reaping gains in music. Now our stadia are so dry because there are no activities going on. Gymnastic facilities are not there for athletes to keep fit. The sports federations are only struggling to participate in a few vital international competitions considered important. In most cases, the events the federations participate in now are qualifiers. It is as bad as that. The question then is: Can government sponsor the federations to bring back life in the system? The answer is yes and no depending on your view on sports development. I strongly believe with aggressive marketing, the sponsors will come back but it is also not out of place for government to release money at least quarterly to stage a mini festival of sorts since the sponsors are currently not there. We cannot allow our athletes to rot away with their talents. We need to ask ourselves how many sports federations staged up to three or four competitions every year in the past five years. This is sad and the results we are posting at international meets are showing that we are no longer invincible in our strong areas. I love football and know that every country spends money on the game just because the foreign clubs are doing the same but I believe other sports should be given attention. I am not asking for equal attention but at least the support that should be enough to get some hidden talents ready to wear the national colours at international meets. The Ministry of Sports and Culture and National Olympic and Sports Committee should come out with an idea of how best to take care of other sports. I also think our expectations in sports must align with commitments especially to the sports administrators who only care about money instead of devising means of developing grassroots level athletes and infrastructure. I believe, to arrest the dwindling fortunes of sports, stakeholders must match their expectations with commitments for sports to thrive again. Things would change for better if dedication becomes the watchword by those concerned. I think we have a problem with our expectations. The best way to get disappointed is to expect more than you have invested in training. We need to align our expectations with our commitments. It is not good enough to gather in front of a screen at a viewing centre for a match. The good results come from hard work undertaken months or years before the match. We need to start enjoying sports for what it is and also understand that “winning is not everything.” We need to change the fortune of sports at school level. Attending and participating in the Olympics is a feat that should never be sniffed at and we should always celebrate the participation of Rwanda and the flying of the Rwandan flag at the event. We also need to understand that athletes hoping to compete in the next Olympics have started training while we are still discussing the London Olympics. If we start with the 10 to 15 year-olds now, we should be ready to deliver world-class athletes for the 2020 Olympics. Of course, other people will take the glory at that time but we will all have the pleasure of knowing that we started it now. This is how we can change things. We need to start early, we need to be supportive of the athletes and we need to align our expectations with our commitments. We need to start from the schools. We need to get parents involved in sports. We need to get inter-house and inter-school sports competitive again. We need to utilise our sports infrastructure more efficiently for the children. We also need to get more people to support this mission. Finally, we need to understand that winning is not everything.