Sport codes must go all-out, not glance about uncertainly

There’s a golden rule in long-distance running: when you can see the finish line, you don’t look back.

By turning to glance backwards, athletes lose momentum when they need it most. More importantly, they display both fear and uncertainty, offering their opponents a chance to strike.

Though many sports still face a long road on the path to resumption, the lengthy suspension of multiple codes has finally been lifted as their lockdown hiatus hits the home straight.

For all the health and safety protocols that have to be met, however, it seems most of the eight codes have eased up as they glance about with uncertainty.

Only Cricket SA has shown any real intent and while the federation will have learned from their errors after jumping the gun last month, the sport will be kick-started with the Solidarity Cup match in Centurion on 18 July.

Yet while tennis and golf clubs have been reopened and five other sports have been cleared to resume the 2020 season (including football), no code other than cricket has revealed any firm plan to get things going at professional level.

Of course, nobody should be rushing into anything, with health and safety measures still taking precedence, but it has been five weeks since noncontact sport was given a provisional green light for a return to action. And after some codes were given the full go-ahead by government last week, only cricket looks set to hit the ground running.

With other sport competitions being relaunched around the world, South African athletes need to get back to full training.

They also need to resume competition if they’re going to keep up with other nations when global campaigns resume.

Perhaps it’s a fear of being blamed for pushing the system backwards if federations are responsible for spreading the virus.

If government, however, feels certain sports have provided sufficient plans and protocols to ensure the health and safety of athletes and officials, then federations need to be brave enough to step into the unknown, as Cricket SA is doing with the unique 3T Cricket clash.

If they don’t want to be left lagging, they can’t keep looking back.

Wesley Botton.

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