The Tanzania netball Association (Chaneta) Secretary General, Rose Mkisi, has said it all; it is not how long a team stays in a residential training camp, but rather how many top-flight friendly matches the team has played that determine success.
Rose said this on the morning of September 21st this year (2011) during her interview with Radio One Stereo sports caster, Maulid Kitenge when she was explaining reasons which led to Taifa Queens’ (national netball team) victory in the just ended All Africa Games held in Maputo, Mozambique.
She said Taifa Queens’ success which saw them finish second after being narrowly beaten by Uganda to win a silver medal was a result of three years of preparations.
“The medal our girls have won is a result of three years of hard work which took the team to various countries, both for competitions and training purposes…the countries included Singapore, South Africa and Manchester, in Britain,” she said.
Rose paid glowing tribute to the chairman of the IPP Media, Reginald Mengi, who had single handedly organized a netball international tournament that helped in shaping up Taifa Queens.
“Whenever we went to seek assistance in the form funding for the team’s passage abroad from some private institutions, some thought that we were obsessed with foreign trips…little did they know that we wanted to give our nascent side the much needed experience,” she said.
Rose said the numerous top-flight friendly matches against foreign teams they had at home and abroad finally helped in inculcating confidence into his girls. “They finally got used to playing against big crowds,” she stressed.
She said some of the teams they beat on their way to the final, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, were teams Taifa Queens had lost heavily against in the past.
“Zambia who had narrowly beaten us on our way to the top, were surprised when they finished third, behind us…both Botswana and South Africa who had in the past literally walked over us, were also surprised that they could no longer beat us,” she said.
The point Rose was making was very simple, that as long as a team put hard work on their training and was also provided with numerous high profile friendly matches, it can easily beat teams that had initially appeared unbeatable.
The story of Taifa Queens and their visionary secretary general is unfortunately the same story some of us have tried to sell to their brothers, the Tanzania Football Federation, TFF.
The TFF has repeatedly been told that their team, Taifa Stars, will never get anywhere as long as they are not exposed to many quality friendly matches at home and abroad!
Four years ago, Taifa Stars through the TFF was given a total of 2.4bn/- by Serengeti Breweries and the National Micro Finance Bank, NMB, in sponsorship.
Although the money was not misused, however, it was not directed towards getting quality foreign teams for testing Taifa Stars as the latter prepared for the Africa Nations Cup (Afcon) and World Cup qualifiers.
Year in, year out, Tanzanians witnessed Taifa Stars spending more time in residential camps instead of travelling abroad to take on their counterparts as part of their training programme.
And the result has been the team’s repeated failure to get anywhere for the simple reason that such lopsided programmes have not helped, in any way, in imparting the much needed experience to the players.
There are numerous examples which show that apart from investing in juvenal soccer, the second surest way of building a well drilled soccer team is to expose it to as many high quality local and international friendly matches as possible.
And the example is again provided by none other than Rose who said in that interview that while their counterparts had spent between three and four months in residential camps, Taifa Queens had spent only 28 days but played many matches at home and abroad.
Therefore one hopes that the TFF leadership will emulate their Chaneta counterpart by providing Taifa Stars with as many high quality friendly matches as possible.
But because Taifa Stars does not have the kind of pedigree that could draw top-flight national teams from other countries to Dar es Salaam, they should not wait for such friendly matches at home, they will never get it as it has proved times and again!
What they need to do is pursue such teams in their own backyards, and because it is us who want to benefit from such exposure, TFF should go even further by paying for the team’s accommodation.
Indeed, it is only by being ready to sacrifice for the team’s sake that Taifa Stars would be able to earn the much needed international exposure that will take it to places.
There is absolutely no way that a team like Bafana Bafana (South Africa) can turn down Taifa Stars’ request for one or more friendly matches anywhere in South Africa as long as the TFF says that it will meet its team’s expenses, passage and accommodation.
How can South Africa say no to such request given the kind of political relations that Tanzania has had with Mandela’s land since the days of freedom fighting?
Talking about political relations, it is time Tanzanians made full use of its bilateral relations forged during the days of political struggle.
For instance, Botswana which has just qualified for the Afcon finals was barely three decades ago a member of the Frontline States under the chairmanship of Tanzania.
Has the TFF fully exploited Botswana and other former Frontline States such as Zambia and later Angola and Mozambique?
By Attilio Tagalile
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