-The CS also gave an Interview on sidelines of the 2024 Magical Kenya Ladies Open about sports at Vipingo Baobab Ridge Course Club in Kilifi County;
-While 50 juniors benefit from Golf Clinic conducted by Five LET Professionals;
-And Golfers meets Wildlife at the same venue during the LET Tourney;
DOUGLAS MWALE-IMG KENYA LIMITED;
Kenya Sports Cabinet Secretary, Hon. Ababu Namwamba, has called on Kenyan Corporate Organizations to partner with the Government to support the growth and development of Sports in the Country, saying that Corporates must start looking at support towards sports as an investment, and not a mere charitable event.
The CS was speaking during the just concluded 2024 Magical Kenya Ladies Open at the PGA Baobab Course in Vipingo Ridge, Kilifi.
He said the Government is keen to partner with institutions in the private sector to transform Sports into an “economic product” that yields benefits for them and the athletes they support.
“There’s no way Government alone can carry the load of growing sports and turning Sports into the huge economic ecosystem that sports should be and this requires partnerships, and especially partnerships with the Corporate World. The reason why the Government through his ministry of sports is working very closely with the Corporates is to package sports as an economic product and get Corporates to put in money not as a CSR and not as a charitable activity but as an investment, because sports is a big investment, “said Namwamba.
The CS further reiterated his warning that sports federations that do not meet the irreducible minimums of transparency, accountability and good governance and which lack a robust youth development agenda should not expect Government funding.
He added that sports federations in Kenya must transform into ‘breeding grounds for growing talent’ anchored on robust youth and grassroots development programmes.
“Federations cannot be just about attending events or bringing budgets to attend events in different capitals around the world or hosting events here in Kenya. They must be the breeding grounds for growing talent. That is why I have asked federations to invest in youth and grassroots development programmes. Every federation must have a youth talent development programme. We are not going to give you any money just to host events if you don’t have a robust youth development agenda,” he said.
Also below is a separate Interview with the Sports Minister Namwamba at Vipingo in Kilifi County;
Tell us about the Talanta Hela dream as envisioned and how it came alive in golf at Vipingo?
Talanta Hela is about three things-Identifying, nurturing, and monetizing talent. It is about providing a pipeline where we grow talents in a very deliberate, intentional, and structured style but, ultimately, turning those talents into livelihoods by monetizing those talents. For golf, I have seen this really coming live in the manner in which young golfers are now getting into that earning belt or an earning ecosystem where they are able to get some money out of their talents. We are now working with the with the Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) to provide a pipeline to see how we can develop golfing talents from the earliest age possible. This, then, assures Kenya that we can be able to place Kenyan golfers into the top Tier , the very elite level of golfing like the LET and the DP World series. This can only be done if you have a deliberate plan to identify talent at the earliest age possible, nurture them, and then funnel them into that monetary system. You recently met with corporates.
Talk to us about the interaction between government and corporates in the Talanta Hela dream?
Theres no way government alone can carry the load of growing sports and turning Sports into the huge economic ecosystem that sports should be. This requires partnerships, and especially partnerships with the corporate world. Whether you look at football in the United Kingdom or American football in the US; whichever sport you look at across the world, it is really powered through corporate partnerships and sponsorships and that is what we want to see here.From Kenya Airways to EABL and their Tusker brand all these partners that are coming on board, I really want to thank you and I want to tell you that you are not making a mistake, you are actually putting your money in the right place and Talanta Hela with its long-term vision of identifying, nurturing, and monetizing talent guarantees you a big success story.
You also met federations and made a call to them about nurturing talent. Speak to us about that;
Federations cannot be just about attending events or bringing budgets to attend events in different capitals around the world or hosting events here in Kenya. They must be the breeding grounds for growing talent. That is why I have asked federations to invest in youth and grassroots development programmes. Every federation must have a youth talent development programme. We are not going to give you any money just to host events if you don’t have a robust youth development agenda.Teams participating in leagues like the Kenya Premier League, you must meet the requirement to have a senior team, a women’s team, and a youth team. That’s the only way we can guarantee full development of this whole sporting ecosystem. Transparency, accountability, and good governance: those are the irreducible minimums for all federations.
You have had a very busy week. how has your last week been?
Crazy! Nairobi, Paris, Miramas, Marseille, Los Angeles, Abidjan, Vipingo. Yeah, it has been a dizzying 10 days. Looking at the time zones, the weather patterns from freezing Paris to LA to boiling hot Abidjan to this amazing Vipingo, it has been quite a rollercoaster, but all for good. In France, we have been able to prepare the camping space where Team Kenya will come for the Olympics and that is now ready in Miramas in the South of France. In LA, we have been solidifying our partnership in music, in film, and in the creative space generally. Invention Studios will be arriving here next week to start preparations to shoot 15 blockbuster movies in Kenya. With the Grammys, we are on the cusp of a big thing: launching the African Grammys with Kenya being the pivot. In Abidjan just looking at the Africa Cup of Nations and making sure that we are keeping an eye on what it takes to deliver a successful AFCON with Kenya poised to co-host AFCON in 2027, and just solidified partnership around youth football development with the government of Côte d’Ivoire finally, here. I mean, I have missed the final in Côte de I’voire to be here for the Magical Kenya Ladies Open because this is really something special.
A word of encouragement for our Kenyan ladies who played here?
I am very proud of you girls, you are amazing. You have made us proud, and this is only the beginning for you. The Government is going to support you big time because you represented the very best and the future of Kenyan golf. And for the international community, thank you for coming to Kenya, and keep coming to Magical Kenya, the land of Hakuna Matata!
Meanwhile The 2024 Magical Kenya Ladies Open concluded on Sunday, February 11th,with the overall winner Italian Shannon Tan banking KES 7.9 million and earning 500 order of merit points on the Ladies European Tour.
108 Golfers, among them five Kenyan amateurs, took part in the event which is now in its fourth year at the PGA Baobab Course in Vipingo Ridge, Kilifi County.
The magnificent par-73 Golf course features several stunning features, among them a variety of animals courtesy of the Vipingo Ridge Wildlife Sanctuary which now features 195 animals, up from 151 in 2023. The animals include oryxs, elands, waterbucks, impalas, Grants gazelles, zebras, giraffes, bushbucks, Lesser kudus, wildebeests, and hartebeests.
Players and spectators on Saturday, February 10th, 2024, got a glimpse of some of the animals on the side-lines of the third round of the tournament.
And finaly Kenya’s Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) partnered with Safaricom and the Ladies European Tour (LET) to deliver a junior golf clinic benefitting fifty junior golfers during the 2024 Magical Kenya Ladies Open held at the Vipingo Ridge in Kilifi County.
The juniors, drawn from the local Vipingo community, received a full-day coaching from LET professional golfers as part of efforts to provide them with golf skills at an early age with the aim of preparing them to, one day, take part at locally hosted global events and challenge for the win.
The juniors received Golf training from seven LET professionals namely Sweden’s Camilla Lennarth, China’s Xialoin Tian, Lakareber Abe from the USA, Anais Meyssonnier from France, Jana Melichova from the Czech Republic, Magdalena Simmermacher from Argentina, and Verena Gimmy from Germany.
The clinic was also part of Vipingo Ridge’s weekly Golf program for underprivileged children from the local village, as well as from a similar scheme at Nyali Golf Club.
Both programs are supported by a partnership between the Kenya Golf Union (KGU) and the Kenya Ladies Golf Union (KLGU) that aims to get young Kenyans into golf and fall under the JGF umbrella.
Regina Gachora, president of JGF said,“This junior clinic helps us to expose the game of golf to juniors and what Vipingo Ridge is going to do with these juniors is going to continuously teach them how to play golf and, hopefully, one of these juniors from this region will one day play in the Magical Kenya Ladies Open and we are very aspirational to think that one of them could win the Magical Kenya Ladies Open.Golf is a game that has been thought to be an elite sport so we are trying to demystify that golf is not an elite sport and it’s instead a game that can be played by all kids. We are, through sponsorships, giving the juniors the resources they need like balls, we are trying to find equipment that they can use because this is a game that can bring up a lot of opportunities for them.”
ENDS;
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