Local athletics coach heads for USA
"I am over the moon. I have seen many athletes whom I have coached travelling overseas but this is the first time I will be going myself," Boikie Gama says.
“I dream athletics. I want to spend the last years of my life coaching athletes. It’s all I want to do when I retire.”
These are the words of the Lowveld’s very own athletics coach, Boikie Gama, who will be heading to the USA for the opportunity of a lifetime.
The Ehlanzeni coordinator for cross-country has been awarded a full scholarship by Olympic Solidarity and the United States Olympic Committee (Usoc) in partnership with the University of Delaware to undergo the International Coaching Enrichment Certificate Programme (ICECP).
It will be held at the university and at the US Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The fourth module will take place in Lausanne, Switzerland in April 2017.
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According to Usoc, the objective of the ICECP is to “build the knowledge and capabilities of the coaches so that they may return to their home countries to serve as foundation builders for future Olympic coaches and athletes”.
The whole process started when Gama presented his project proposal about identifying talent at grass-roots level to the South African Sport Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) at a coaching course in Durban.
Sascoc presented it, in turn, to the University of Delaware which invited him to attend their course. And as they say, the rest is history.
“I am over the moon. I have seen many athletes whom I have coached travelling overseas but this is the first time I will be going myself,” Gama says.
I am going to seek information and bring it back to this country to help sports coaches and teachers produce top-class athletes.”
Fifty-year-old Gama is a computer application and technology teacher at EJ Singwane Secondary School in Pienaar. He lives in Msogwaba with his wife, Phumzile, two children Wendy and Siyabonga and his adopted daughter, Emmarancia.
The latter is the hot favourite to win gold in cross-country at the national championships in George in early September.
Gama will take five weeks of unpaid leave from his teaching job but he has applied to the Department of Education to see if a plan can be made in this regard.
Whatever the outcome, he knows the opportunity is not to be missed.
He adds that he is incredibly grateful to Abel Nkuna who sponsored his visa costs and Arthur Nkosi who helped him with the paperwork for his scholarship application.
“I cannot wait to gain invaluable knowledge to bring home. I hope we will be able to produce many more international athletes in the years to come,” Gama concludes.
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