Cuban coach hails young athletics' talent

THATO KALA
Correspondent | Friday September 24, 2010 00:00

Sanchez, who came to the country in August last year, believes systematic training at grassroots level is the way to go. 'Botswana has so much talent, but the challenge is the educational system which does not allow kids to start honing their sports skills at a young age intensely. They need to be systematically trained from a tender age if they are to make it professionally at a later stage. You cannot develop much after only training for two weeks,' he told Mmegi Sport.

The coach has been impressed by G4S4teen sprinter Fanuel Kenosi who is under his tutelage. 'Fanuel is currently doing fine. He did well in the Yellow Pages race (in South Africa in February), won gold in Mauritius (in May) despite the fact that the weather was not fine,' he said on Monday.

He added that he has been preparing the 22-year-old athlete for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, slated for 3-14 October. However, Kenosi will not take part in the Games. 'He will not be at the Commonwealth Games because the Olympic Committee wanted to send more female athletes this time. So I will give him a week to rest then we will start preparing for next season,' Sanchez said. He added: 'He (Fanuel) has a great future ahead of him because he listens to instructions'.  Kenosi is G4S4teen's ambassador for Botswana. He has worked with three different coaches this year and he feels this is not good for his progress. He wants to work with Sanchez, who has previously coached in Venezuela, Mexico and Uganda.

'He's a good coach especially in 200m, which is my speciality. But the association (Botswana Athletics Association) has a tendency of changing coaches willy-nilly and that affects me as an athlete because when a new coach takes over, the training programme and methodology changes. That means I have to start afresh,' Kenosi said.

The Kanye-born athlete believes the key to success in athletics is continuity and consistency in training methods.'Having competed in international competitions and interacting with fellow athletes, I have realised that if one is to succeed, there has to be continuity in terms of coaches,' he said.