RETIRED sprinter-cum-footballer Letu Hamhola may have had a very short running career, but the former Western Suburbs Athletic Club runner, who kicked his last football with Desert Rollers in the National First Division, is not lost to either sport.
Hamhola grew up between Omaruru and Lüderitz, where his preacher father was transferred to.
It was during his earlier days at Diaz Primary School at Lüderitz that he developed a love for short sprints and soon became the toast of the school in the 100m and 200m dashes.
Hamhola carried his running spikes to Martin Luther High School, then to Ella du Plessis secondary school in Windhoek. There, he and other runners competed for Western Suburbs under Jephta Kerneels’ tutelage.
“I came to the city to continue my high-school career at Ella du Plessis in 1992 after I left Martin Luther, near Omaruru in the Kunene region, and I joined Western Suburbs, which had very talented young runners at the time.
“I was quite fast out of the blocks, but I cut my ties with Suburbs when I went to further my studies at the University of Namibia (Unam) in 1994.
“Agnes Samaria, Erwin Naimwaka, Johanna Manuel and I formed the Unam Athletics Club,” he says.
Johanna Manuel has been appointed as the Director of Sport in the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service.
“At the same time we also joined Willie Gernemann’s coaching programme, which was a government initiative sponsored by GTZ. That was where I was discovered as an instructor.
“I trained wrongly as a junior, hence I constantly had problems with my hamstring.
“I decided to kiss my athletics career goodbye, and chose to become a coach instead,” he says.
Hamhola completed a level-1 athletics course in 1997, under the International Amateur Athletics Federation. Garnemann returned from Germany and he and the 53 athletes decided that they would continue the program.
Hamhola was the training partner of Frank Fredericks, a three-time Olympic silver medallist from Namibia.
Former Martin Luther High School pupil was co-coach of Tisan’s 1996 Cuccsa Games team in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2002, he also coached KapenaRukero at World Junior Athletics Championships.
Hamhola was also the 800m star coach for Agnes Samaria in 2008 Olympics Games. He had previously coached the same athlete at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002.
“I am deeply honoured to have coached two athletes at the Olympic Games, Tjipekapora Herunga and Agnes, as well as two Paralympians, Johannes Nambala and Ananias Shikongo, who claimed a bronze at the recent Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
“I just find pleasure from those athletes who work in my camp, and I don’t discriminate between my athletes . . .
“I also have a group of athletes at Otjiwarongo and Oshakati, while I am also the national relay coach,” he says.
Hamhola has 25 years experience as a coach and the government created Vision 2016, a program to help athletes get exposure to elite athletes from Europe and South Africa.
He claims that the government has been reluctant to release additional funds after Hitumbuavi Veii, former sport director, was retired.
Hamhola stated that the coordinators of the programme are closely working with the police. They are keen to recruit the best athletes if they meet their recruitment criteria.
He cut his football career at Atlanta Bucks at Lüderitz before he joined exciting Katutura outfit African Blizzards, and then moved on to Gobabis, where he turned for My Dae Chiefs and Desert Rollers.
“I enjoyed playing upfront and, because of my blistering pace, I was quite a handful for the defenders. I played most of my career forward until the Desert Rollers coach deemed me more resourceful playing at back until I retired.
“From football I moved on to netball, and I coached Civics for 12 years during which we also dominated the Khomas League for quite some time.
“I also coached the under-19 schools’ team in tournaments in South Africa and Swaziland, while I played a little bit of rugby at Unam,” he says.
He is currently the Fitness Coach for Tigers in Namibian Premier League. He says he also played table tennis and basketball at university.
“TRAIN LIKE a SLAVE”
Hamhola, a national netball champion coach with Gobabis-based Wennie du Plessis secondary school, is now chief sport officer at Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service.
He said that his greatest challenge is to create a high-performance center in each of the 14 regions.
“I am in a very competitive sport. It is high on my wish-list to establish a high performance centre. This will allow us identify and grow athletes.
“We will see our athletes compete more than they are currently doing.”
“Right now, I am the only level-five coach in the country. Unam has agreed to train qualified coaches for recognition by World Athletics.
“Just imagine having qualified coaches in all the regions,” he says.
His advice to young athletes is the following: “Their payment is their dedication, commitment and hard work. I tell them to train like a slave and run like the king or queen.
Source: namibian
