By Tirivashe Nheweyembwa
Special Olympics Zimbabwe has embarked on a new project which is called the Performance Stations which is aimed at improving the performance of the athletes through hydration, nutrition and fitness.
The pilot project was launched at Chapman Golf on Monday 15 October had 16 centres across Harare participating in the new and exciting project which is a first of its kind in Africa.
Special Olympics Zimbabwe Director Viola Musariri was full of joy when she addressed the volunteers who were expected to offer their services during the Pilot project.
“This is an exciting time for us as Special Olympics Zimbabwe because we are the first country to pilot this project in Africa. The project has three major aspects which are fitness, hydration and nutrition.
‘It has been noted that most of the athletes cannot compete and finish competitions owing to lack of the right nutrition, hydration and this results in sub optimal performance because they won’t be fit”, said Musariri.
During the pilot project the athletes were taken through fitness session by Thomson Matende a well accomplished Fitness Trainer, Nutrition was handled by Joel Bizure who is a well experienced Nutritionist who has worked with Sports Teams to various competitions such as the African Union Sports Council Region 5 under Youth Games and the African Games in Algeria and Mozambique respectively. At the end of these sessions, the athletes were then taken to the pledge tent where they would pledge that they were to either drink 2 litres of water per day, train daily or follow certain nutrition like eating at least one fruit per day.
Joyce Kapota of Special Olympics Zimbabwe thanked the sponsors and all the organizations which supported this event.
“As Special Olympics Zimbabwe we would like to thank all the sponsors who supported us in this regard and all the centres which came through to the pilot project. Special thanks should go to Kylie and Monica from Special Olympics International who came all the way from the United States of America to be with us.
“We shall continue to encourage our athletes to ensure that they keep their pledge like drinking lots of water, taking the nutrition and exercising on a regular basis. We were also humbled by the sport stars who graced the occasion Tanyaradzwa Muzinda (Motorbike racing), Yara Hanssan (Equestrian) and the Football stars. Their presence managed to put a smile on the faces of our athletes as they were inspired and encouraged” added Joyce.
The next project is scheduled to take place in the next two weeks.
