Don’t Use Students, Banuve Tells Teachers
Tabakaucoro has also claimed that some student athletes return only for the Games despite having graduated and go missing from school after competition.
Saturday 06 April 2019 | 11:30
A top national sprinter has slammed schools for ‘poaching’ student athletes for the sake of winning the Coca-Cola Games, giving little thought to their development and education.
Pacific Sprint king Banuve Tabakaucoro has urged secondary school teachers to develop their own athletes, instead of ‘poaching from other schools,’ and put their welfare ahead of the Cokes Games success.
Tabakaucoro has also claimed that some student athletes return only for the Games despite having graduated and go missing from school after competition.
“I only agree with recruiting if the school that is recruiting has the ability to develop the student athlete and prioritise education along with sports,” he said.
“Of course it is down to personal choice, but if the school’s sole purpose is to win medals and keep the athletes for only one year then the student does not progress in athletics or academically.”
Being a student, Tabakaucoro says, means being present in school all-year round, attending classes and sitting for exams.
He said bigger schools are preying on smaller ones, depriving them of champion athletes which they need to stay competitive and build a winning culture.
The national 100m and 200m record holder won 10 Coke Games medals for Marist Brothers High School as a student athlete from 2007 to 2012.
He holds the Games’ senior boys 100m and 200m records– 10.34s and 21.04s respectively.
While the sprinter believes there are some ‘positives’ to student athlete ‘poaching,’ he says the impact is generally negative because schools are not concerned with long-term development.
“The scenario now is the school recruits the athlete, he or she performs at high level for only one year then becomes a non-athletic student because there is no development, only a focus on winning medals,” he said.
“The school then replaces that athlete with somebody better and the student feels neglected and used. It is important to remember here that they are just teenagers.”
Tabakaucoro’s claims of ‘poaching’ and students returning for the Cokes despite having graduated from secondary school have been an open secret in athletics circles across Fiji for some time.
The Fiji Secondary Schools Athletics Association in February barred 20-year-olds – and above - from participating at the Games this year, in an apparent attempt to address some of the issues.
The Coke Games will be held on April 16-18 at Suva’s ANZ Stadium.
Edited by Leone Cabenatabua
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