ATHLETICS

 Athletics is a category of competitive sports that include running, leaping, throwing, and walking. Track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking are the most frequent athletics competitions.According to a Goggle Athletics analysis, 38.4% of all athletes are women, while 61.6% are males. The average age of a working athlete is 36 years old. The most frequent ethnicity of athletes is White (72.8%), followed by Black or African American (8.9%), Hispanic or Latino (7.5%), and Unknown (6.8%).

 Photo taken from iStock

 Athletics is one of the most popular sports not just in Namibia, but across the world.Namibia is well-known as one of the countries with athletes who compete in numerous global competitions and have achieved remarkable success.According to an article from thenamibian about A sudden rise of these two teenagers' performances around the country and around the world, with no idea who they were or where they came from. They've made international headlines. They are the youngest sprinters Namibia has ever produced, and they have excelled. Thanks to the Kavango East Regional Namibia Schools Sports Union leadership for identifying them through school sport activities. Christine Katiku Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, both from the Kavango East Region,who were both 18 years at that time.

Picture from thenmibian 

Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi's achievements in the 200m final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics surprised the globe and kindled a nation's excitement. With Mboma's silver medal,becoming the first ever Namibian woman to win a women's Olympic medal and breaking the world under-20 and African senior record and Masilingi placed sixth in the 200m, she also achieved the second-fastest world under-18 and third-fastest world under-20 times in 400m history,. the Namibian teenagers have also established themselves as the future of women's sprinting.

According to an article from New era The Namibian National Olympic Committee announced in July 2021 that Masilingi and fellow Namibian sprinter Christine Mboma would be unable to compete in the 400 m event at the Tokyo Olympics due to World Athletics rules implemented in 2018 requiring athletes with certain XY DSDs participating in women's running events from 400 meters to one mile to have blood testosterone levels below 5 nmol/L. Masilingi and Mboma were found positive for increased testosterone levels owing to a naturally existing hereditary issue during a medical evaluation during a training camp in Italy in early 2021. Prior to the assessment, neither sprinter was aware of the issue.

RUGBY

 According an online article, Rugby union is a prominent team sport in Namibia as well as its predecessor province of South West Africa. Because Namibia was historically dominated by South Africa, events in that nation and internal rivalry affected Namibian rugby.The Namibia Rugby Union is the country's governing organization for rugby union. The organization was established in March 1990.

 

Photo taken from the Namibian Rugby website

 

 

The Namibian national team is commonly known as the Welwitschia, Players from Namibia were able to represent South Africa until independence; Namibian-born Springboks included Jan Ellis and Percy Montgomery (albeit in the latter case, his birthplace Walvis Bay was a South African enclave until 1994). other players pursue rugby careers in South Africa and other European nations. Frik du Preez, a South African footballer, also spent time in the erstwhile South West Africa.

Picture from Namibian Rugby Union

 This picture shows Percy Montgomery,born in Namibia, playing for the Springboks (South African team).

 

 

Namibia has qualified for the World Cup five times, in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015, but has never won a match.The Welwitchias qualified for their sixth Rugby World Cup in August 2018, defeating Kenya 53-28 in Windhoek. They finished fourth in Pool B of the 2019 World Cup in Japan after drawing a match against Canada.

 

 

 

Picture taken from thenamibian website

 

 

 

I was able to interview a member of the national squad and asked him what rugby means to him, and this is what he replied"for me Rugby is more than just a game,it keeps me in good health,develop key mental skills of self control and discipline, The resilience and ability to persevere through pain and adversity for the greater good is a key skill developed on the rugby field, and a characteristic that serves rugby players throughout the rest of their personal and professional live."

 

 

BASKETBALL

 Basketball is a court game played by two opposing teams of five players each. According to a research of basketball player statistics by gender, 23.0% of basketball players are female and 77.0% of basketball players are males.

Picture taken from iStock

Basketball in Namibia began in 1992, and it later grew popular in various sections of the country after independence.Basketball became popular in all 12 regions of Namibia thanks to the Namibian Basketball Federation (NBF). The national basketball team is governed by the Namibian Basketball Federation; the national team has not yet qualified for the FIFA Africa Championship.According to a Namibian article published on July 14, 2021, the Namibian Basketball Federation advertised the jobs of head coach for the national men's and women's teams.The NBA president told them that filling the positions is part of the federation's larger turnaround strategy, and the long-term plan of reviving the fortunes of local basketball, with the hope of seeing Namibia join other top African nations on the international stage. The goal is to create strong national basketball teams that can compete at the international level.The coaches will be in charge of overseeing the general growth of the sport at the grassroots level across the country's 14 regions.That includes ensuring Namibia's competitiveness on the continent and ranking among the best.

Picture taken from thenamibian

I was able to interview a basketball player named Tuli Mevava, also known as Tc, he grew up in Ongwediva and attended Gabriel Taapopi High School where he started playing basketball. Tuli is a teacher by profession, but he is currently enrolled in a two-year sports course in Germany.Mevava mentioned that for basketball to be popular it has to start  from the schools,we need teachers that that are interested mad have passion for sports.this will encourage the Namibian youth to take part in different sport codes and not only basketball.

I believe that in order for any sport code to thrive in Namibia, the ministry of sports must invest in the construction of new sport facilities that can accommodate more than only soccer. This will help to promote, manage, and organize school sports.