Andrew Mdzumira
The Malawi Council of Sports (MNCS) is promoting the Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) pathway to identify and nurture young sporting talent from an early age in schools and communities, with the aim of enhancing proper transition stages towards national and international competition success.
Acting Chief Executive Officer of MNCS Ivy Chinangwa said the development of athletes requires a structured process that allows sporting associations to identify talent early and gradually develop it through growth phases rather than focusing on immediate results.
Speaking in WaGanyu Exclusive, Chinangwa said the process begins by identifying children and assessing the sporting disciplines in which they have the potential to transcend.
“It’s a process. When we identify these children, we need to assess which sport they can excel in, and from there, we take them through different levels,” she said.
Chinangwa said the Council pays particular attention to children aged six and below, as this is a crucial stage for observing their interests, physical movements, and natural abilities.
She said observing how a child moves and runs, for example, can help identify potential in athletics disciplines such as sprinting, triple jump, long jump, and high jump.
“We have many levels. At Level One, we observe how the child develops. At Level Two, we look at how they play, and that is where we can identify the area in which the child has potential,” she said.
Chinangwa said athletes are then taken through different stages of development, including learning to train, training to learn, training to compete and training to win, as they progress towards higher levels of competition.
She said the Council regularly engages sporting associations to discuss athlete development and ensure they understand the importance of following the LTAD pathway.
Chinangwa stressed that the Council is also planning further engagements with sporting associations to explain the development framework and encourage them to adopt the pathway in their talent identification and development programmes.
However, she said one of the major challenges facing sporting associations is the desire for immediate results.
“The challenge with most of our associations is that they want quick results. They want good results immediately. This happens because they may not understand the level at which the athletes they are taking into competition are, based on the development pathway they have followed from the beginning,” she said.
Youth Games feeding the talent pipeline
Chinangwa said the Malawi Youth Games, which were established in 2021, are aligned with the athlete development pathway and are already producing athletes who are progressing to higher levels of competition.
She cited the Malawi national women’s football team, the Scorchers, as one example of how the Youth Games are helping to identify and develop talent.
“The Malawi Youth Games have helped a lot. An example is the Scorchers, where we have players who came through the Youth Games,” she said.
Chinangwa mentioned Faith Chimzimu and Rose Kabzere among players who emerged through the Youth Games and have gone on to perform well in international women’s football.
She said the two were among players who participated in the 2022 African Union Sports Council Region 5 Youth Games held in Lilongwe before progressing in their football careers.
In athletics, she highlighted Amanda Khondowe, who represented Malawi at last year’s Region 5 Youth Games in Namibia, where performed well.
In netball, Chinangwa cited Sophlet Banda as another example of talent emerging through the youth development system.
She said the success stories demonstrate that the Malawi Youth Games are providing an important foundation for identifying and developing young athletes.
Chinangwa described the Youth Games as a “good nursery” for sporting talent, saying continued investment in structured athlete development could help Malawi produce more athletes capable of competing successfully at the international level.
