No excuses in search of Maltese stars

"You can do it. Where there's a will there's a way, you've got a problem if the will is away. It is not easy, no one is saying that it is, but it can be done."

Talking to Quentin Steele-Botes, the initial impression is that it takes a lot to get him agitated. With a smile on his face and always ready to crack a joke, he is the epitome of cool. But put forward the suggestion that Malta is too small to produce track stars on a world level and his attitude changes.

"If the Seychelles, with 75,000 people, can do it in four different sport codes, then what can you do with 400,000 people?," he claimed. "You'll find excuses everywhere but you'll have to go far to convince me that from 400,000 people you can't produce one or five world class athletes. Come on."

As a coach for over 20 years with experience both in Africa and Germany, Steele-Botes knows what he's talking about. He knows, for instance, that motivating people - particularly children - to train seriously can be a tough task.

"In Africa, if you offer a soft drink to the winner of a junior race, you'll get hundreds of kids. But if you were to offer that same prize to Maltese kids they'd think you are mad. The thing that you have to ask yourself is: what motivates our kids," he said.

Training has to be fun, which is what Steele-Botes was trying to pass on to the group of 17 prospective coaches who were under his tutorship in a bid to obtain IAAF Level 1 certification. "In Namibia, we have what we call 'keep it simple, let them try' activities and bring in variety. Let them learn through games."

Scott Grace, a British coach who was also lecturing at the course, takes up this argument.

"With kids the key is to keep them active as much as possible so that they play games, learn skills and have a variety of challenges," Grace said.

"When I see children in a queue waiting to take their turn I'm always timing to see how long they stay inactive."

"Children want to go home to tell their parents 'I learned this today'," he added.

The two coaches were in Malta at the invitation of the MAAA and their trip was mainly funded by the Olympic Solidarity fund through the Maltese Olympic Committee. Both were full of praise for their apprentices.

"What has impressed and surprised me compared to the education in the UK is the concentration. Back home the sporting days for a Level I of the IAAF are usually two and even so concentration occasionally lapses.

"There was not a point where somebody wasn't focusing or asking any questions and I think that there is a bright future for everyone involved," Grace said.

Similarly, Steele-Botes praised the local coaches designated to assist him during the course. "I've been to some 25 countries doing this course and I can honestly say that each one of the coaches I've had here to help me falls in the top three that I've met."

Equally, both stress the importance of having qualified coaches. "Nowadays, a good coach must have a fair amount of knowledge on nutrition, interviews, bio mechanics, training methods, psychology, the body," Steele-Botes explains.

"Just to get around, to keep people fit and in shape, that is no problem. But to produce real talented athletes you need people who really know how to coach."

Grace's view is that a structured system helps to ensure a high level of coaching. "With unqualified coaches you may get a great coach but you will get a few coaches who use a wrong model of practice."

MAAA drive

Their view supports the MAAA's stand as the local athletics body has, over the past years, invested heavily to ensure that the number of qualified coaches in Malta continues to increase.

The MAAA effort has undoubtedly impressed Steele-Botes. "I believe this is the fifth Level I course held in Malta which is brilliant. A country like South Africa, where there are 44 million people, has so far had two courses: you've had five!"

Hopefully, such courses and the coaches who emerge from them will indeed help to justify his assertions that Malta can produce world-class athletes.