WHAT TOUR DU RWANDA SUCCESS CAN TEACH US For eight long days, I held my breath as, first Janvier Hadi, and then Valens Ndiyisenga wore the iconic Yellow Jersey in the grueling Tour du Rwanda cycling competition. From east to west, north to south, our boys outshone some of the continent’s best riders, a feat that had long eluded us. But as victory came ever closer I worried more and more. Could they hold on? Would a horrendous accident hand victory to the other teams? The answer to my questions was a resounding yes and no respectively. On Sunday, we crowned, for the first time, Ndayisenga, a local rider, as the winner of the Tour du Rwanda. While this victory gave me a huge sense of pride, I couldn’t help but ask, “why couldn’t our other national teams perform quite as well”? I think that the answer is obvious. The Rwanda cycling federation put in place a long-term plan of action and then EXECUTED it. They got a successful coach in Jacques Bowyer and let him do his job. They discovered potentially good riders and gave them the support, both technical and material, to train properly. They built a cycling school of excellence in Musanze District and they helped finance Team Rwanda’s European sojourns. Finally, they sought and got sponsorship from the private sector so they did not have to depend on government handouts. The cycling body’s long-term strategy for success doesn’t seem like rocket science to me. But looking at how so many of our sports teams are doing, it would seem like it. Currently our football team isn’t playing continental football because it was caught with its pants down. All because, in my opinion, the football association refused to invest in the long-term future of the national team and instead chose the shortcut. Team Rwanda didn’t choose the shortcut. And because it didn’t it will probably remain competitive for the foreseeable future. newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2014-11-26/183429/
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 08:42:30 +0000