National Olympic Committee of Kenya is acting on different levels as it seeks to support to athletes and coaches in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
NOC-K has been providing technical assistance in fitness and injury rehabilitation to athletes since March.
“This became so critical when the lockdown started and the Elite Team has continued working with Olympic qualified athletes on this through online platforms, one-on-one sessions and visits where possible,” NOC-K secretary-general, Francis Mutuku remarked.
Mutuku added: “The other level of support that is extremely important during this period is psycho-social support. Professional athletes have evidently been hard-hit by the pandemic, especially following the postponement of Tokyo 2020, cancellation of most events in the year and closure of training grounds.”
Starting this week, Mutuku said NOC-K will hold weekly online conferences to address various topics of interest to athletes and coaches and by extension to the wider sports fraternity.
“The first two sessions will be on mental health and fitness. We can all agree that it is not only physical health that is important at such a sensitive time, but the cancellations of events could also bring about anxiety due to the uncertainties. Furthermore, the social isolation of people who are used to working with teams and being outdoors could take a toll on mental health.”
Mutuku disclosed that experts in the mental session will be answering some of the obvious questions such as, how to cope with the global lockdown.
“They will also be talking about the effects of the lockdown on behaviour and breaking down on what is happening to the athlete psychologically.
Noc-K President Paul Tergat will open the conference that will be addressed by Kanyali Ilako, Rosemary Owino— Davis Cup captain, award-winning coach and high-performance sports mentor and Julius Yego, the 2016 Olympic javelin silver medallist.
The panellists in the fitness session will be tackling maintaining fitness through the pandemic by the elite athlete. They include Geoffrey Kimani (professional strength & conditioning coach), Paul Bitok - (Malkia Strikers coach), Sinaida Aura (Kenya Lionesses) and sprinter Mark Otieno.
“The aim of the sessions is to get athletes to speak up about their struggles, if any, and to create a platform where they can know that help is available and to reach out if they need it. We also aim to empower coaches to be able to reach out to their athletes and offer the required assistance,” said Mutuku.