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Ellina Mhlanga -Senior Sports Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Cestoball Association members are set to participate in an international referees and coaches’ course on May 4 as the local motherbody pushes for capacity building of its members.

The sport is still new in the country and as part of ZICA’s efforts to ensure their members are equipped for the task, 30 coaches drawn from different provinces are set to take part in the course. They will also have 10 referees participating.

The participants will be joined by national technical director, Ziviso Mutambisi, vice-president Anna Mariah Jirimwe and marketing director Juan Takapfuma.

The course to be held online, will be led by international trainers Antonella Buscaglia and Giuliana Tasca.

It will focus on the basics of the sport, infrastructure and equipment, technical elements, umpire’s responsibilities and game regulations.

ZICA president, Amon Madzvamuse, said this is an opportunity for their members to acquire the necessary knowledge that is key in their drive for development of the sport locally.

“This is a new sport code, we don’t have meaningful and many games here in Zimbabwe but we have major international tournaments, so these coaches will have the knowledge to participate in an international event. So this is very good as far as ZICA is concerned.

“We now have community clubs in various provinces, so as far as umpiring or refereeing is concerned we didn’t have much of the referees to officiate those games.

So this is the opportunity that we want to take advantage of.

“This is a very good opportunity for us.

We are not lagging behind in terms of information, in terms of new changes but we are there and this platform will also give confidence to our coaches as they interact with other coaches,” Madzvamuse said.

From the 30 coaches that are going to take part in the course, the national association is set to select the best coaches for the Under-17 and Under-21 teams.