Youth Games to feature qualification standards
Multi-sport
African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 has announced that the Youth Games will now feature qualification standards, starting with the 12th edition scheduled for 4 to 13 December next year in Maputo, Mozambique.This was confirmed by AUSC Region 5 chief executive officer Stanley Mutoya during a stakeholder workshop on sports recently concluded in Windhoek.
The workshop was part of a series of commission and committee progress meetings featuring sports leaders from the region’s 10 member countries, following Namibia’s successful hosting of the Youth Games from 4 to 13 July in Windhoek and Swakopmund.
Mutoya said the region needs a paradigm shift for one of its premier sports events, as hosting the Games has now come full circle since they began in Maputo in 2004.
“Each of the 10 member countries in the region has now hosted the Games. When we return to Maputo next year, we need to see things differently, breaking silos and ensuring we deliver a sport that is coherent and sustainable,” he said.
Stipulated Youth Games qualifiers
AUSC Region 5 is thus introducing qualifying standards for the Youth Games, which will mandate all member countries to host qualifying events.
These will include national youth games, national school championships, sport-specific championships (i.e., athletics or tennis national championships), and regional sport-specific championships. Team rankings will also apply to team sports.
Mutoya noted that the first cycle of hosting the Games focused on sports development, getting facilities up and running, and encouraging athletes to compete and showcase their talent.
“We were trying to create programmes that are development-related. Now we’re going to another level of excellence in the second cycle to create performance standards. We will increase the level of competition, ensuring the Games are not just a recreational event,” he said.
‘We set the standard’
The Games’ qualifying standards will help create a continuum of high performance under the region’s Podium Performance Programme (PPP), preparing athletes for bigger events on the continent and the world.
According to Mutoya, this is the region’s way of elevating sports to “set the standard” for the rest of the continent to follow.” The qualifiers will be instrumental in measuring athletes’ progress before major events.
“Sports leaders should not wait to see the athletes’ personal best (PB) during the competition. These are things you should already know in training, and qualifying standards will help make this possible before athletes take on the continental stage,” he said.
“We are saying, for instance, in athletics, the current African junior record of 100m is [9.91 seconds by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo – ours at the Games should be 9.90 seconds]. This pushes athletes to do better and elevates the level of sports on our continent.”
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