The Tanzania Amateur Volleyball Association (TAVA) new Volleyball Centre of Excellence is set to be officially opened today in Tanga. TAVA Vice-President Muharami Mchume said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that four centres are in place to run the volleyball development programmes in Tanga, Arusha, Dodoma and Mtwara.
“We are planning to open other centres at Masasi Girls Secondary School in Mtwara, Mpwapwa Secondary in Dodoma and a process is in place to decide which school will host the centre in Arusha,” he said. Mchume added that the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) agreed to assist the association in running the centres. He said that the centres are specifically designed to prepare high performance volleyball athletes to take their game to the next level.
“The development programmes will run for eight years, this means it will start with students from Form One to Four, for the first phase and the same at second phase,” he said. Mchume presented certificates of attendance to volleyball officials who attended the Grade A course that started on September 12.
The officials are Nyange Mtoro, Twalib Abdallah, Abdallah Chapa, Shukuru Saidi, Zuberi Zuberi, Ally Shambi, Rahim Mjema, Saidi Saidi, Esther Joshua and Mariam Mkarambati. He urged the new officials to ensure that they utilise effectively the knowledge they attained for the development of the game.
“This is just a start, make sure that you attend as many courses as possible so that you can be updated with the knowledge that will enable you to officiate games in and outside the country as doors are open,” he said.
“My advice is that you take your job seriously, do your job well with high integrity, volleyball needs your service and hope you can make it,” he said. Mchume complemented DAREVA for their job well done and efforts they are making to develop the game. “DAREVA is a good example.
I want to use this opportunity to ask other regions to follow this example as TAVA alone cannot do all,” he said. He assured DAREVA with maximum support from TAVA in order for them to fulfil their programmes. DAREVA Secretary Yusuf Mkarambati said that they are committed in development of the game, but the only seatback was lack of facilities. On behalf of other course participants, Mtoro said that they are now ready to take challenges.
“It was a good course, we learnt many things that make us ready to join others in this job for the battement of the game,” he said. The course facilitator was DAREVA referees chairman Fred Mshangama. Coordinator Nassoro Shariff said the participants will have to officiate at least six tournaments before being given an official confirmation referee certificates.
By MBONILE BURTON, Tanzania Daily News