BSc (hon) BIT, Cert. in Sport Business Management. |
Suzgo Alpha NkhomaADF President & IDF President for AfricaSuzgo Alpha Nkhoma is a Malawian young man aged 42, a distinction graduate of Malawi National College of Information Technology. He is married to Mestina and has five kids, one boy and 4 girls.
Current Status in Sports Currently he is the president of African Draughts Federation (ADF) and also he is the vice president of International Draughts Federation (IDF) responsible for Africa. At national level he is the General Secretary for the Association of Draughts in Malawi (ADMA) |
Hear from the host!!! as he responds to a question from University of Pretoria as he takes a course in Sport Business Management
My Personal Involvement in Malawian Sport
My Name is Suzgo Alpha Nkhoma, I am the current General Secretary for the Association of Draughts in Malawi (ADMA), I am also The President of African Draughts Federation and an Executive member of International Draughts Federation responsible for draughts in Africa.
Passion in sport activities dates back to early 90s, during my secondary education. I am a fan of indoor sport particularly board games, preferably Draughts. I also do follow other sport disciplines like football, wrestling and gymnastics.
My simple research then after secondary education showed that almost in every marketplace, folks played draughts, but it was apparent that the sport was just played to pass hours away the sport was just for recreation. Interest grew from strength to strength when I discovered that a lot of young people were involved in the sport but could later quit after seeing that the sport was not taking them to anywhere this is the first challenge encountered, basically the sport was not evolving to an organized competitive sport. This is the time when I seriously got involved in the Draughts sport with an intention revolutionize the sport.
In early 2010 through a research on the internet, I discovered that outside Malawi the same sport was at high level and standards. Countries like Russia, Belarus, Latvia just to mention a few provide lessons for the sport at as early stage as primary school. The discovery motivated me to think of mobilizing people who liked the sport to form a grouping whose objective was to promote the sport to a level where registration with Malawi Government could be accepted.
I was nominated to be the interim general secretary for the grouping. My primary task was to work on the requirements put forth by the government of Malawi for the grouping to get officially registered.
In 2012 my efforts bore fruits as the grouping was duly registered by Government of Malawi as a member association of the Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) with name, The Association of Draughts in Malawi (ADMA).
In the same year I made an initiative to develop a website ( https://admamalawi.weebly.com/) which was meant to help in promoting the sport across the nation and also for both MNCS and international body to monitor our activities. A face book page was also created to compliment the website (https://www.facebook.com/DraughtsAssociationOfMalawi/).
The next challenge was to get the National Sport Association across borders to be officially registered with the International Draughts Federation (IDF). In 2013 I took a leading role to have the association registered with an international body and in the same year the national federation was registered with The International Draughts Federation (IDF) https://idf64.org/members/
In 2015 for the first time in the history of the minority sport draughts we participated in the world championship which took place in Russia and I was the leader of delegation.
In 2016 Malawi Participated in the first African Championship in Zambia and I was the leader of delegation. During the event I was certified as an International Arbiter in the Draughts sport
In 2017 I took an active role that ensured our participation in the world championship again in Russia.
In 2018 Malawi hosted second series of African Championship in Draughts64 which was organized at high level and according to international standards, I was the chief organizer of this event. Further after the event an AGM was conducted where I was elected leader of African Draughts Federation which was formed to oversee and consequently promote the activities of draughts sport in Africa
Later in the same year, during the AGM of International Draughts Federation in Bulgaria I was elected as one of board of directors responsible for draughts activities in continent of Africa (https://idf64.org/executive-board/).
In 2019 Malawi was represented in the world Draughts Championship which took place in Europe, Bulgaria and I was the leader of delegation again.
The most memorable moments were when I was shortlisted as the best administrator in the year 2019 and Draughts National Team emerged best national team in the year 2019 during the Sport Award function organized by Malawi National Sports Council.
Since 2013 Malawi has been holding national championships and I have been on the helm of Organising these events.
There were a lot of challenges in all the events that I was directly involved in as follows
My Personal Involvement in Malawian Sport
My Name is Suzgo Alpha Nkhoma, I am the current General Secretary for the Association of Draughts in Malawi (ADMA), I am also The President of African Draughts Federation and an Executive member of International Draughts Federation responsible for draughts in Africa.
Passion in sport activities dates back to early 90s, during my secondary education. I am a fan of indoor sport particularly board games, preferably Draughts. I also do follow other sport disciplines like football, wrestling and gymnastics.
My simple research then after secondary education showed that almost in every marketplace, folks played draughts, but it was apparent that the sport was just played to pass hours away the sport was just for recreation. Interest grew from strength to strength when I discovered that a lot of young people were involved in the sport but could later quit after seeing that the sport was not taking them to anywhere this is the first challenge encountered, basically the sport was not evolving to an organized competitive sport. This is the time when I seriously got involved in the Draughts sport with an intention revolutionize the sport.
In early 2010 through a research on the internet, I discovered that outside Malawi the same sport was at high level and standards. Countries like Russia, Belarus, Latvia just to mention a few provide lessons for the sport at as early stage as primary school. The discovery motivated me to think of mobilizing people who liked the sport to form a grouping whose objective was to promote the sport to a level where registration with Malawi Government could be accepted.
I was nominated to be the interim general secretary for the grouping. My primary task was to work on the requirements put forth by the government of Malawi for the grouping to get officially registered.
In 2012 my efforts bore fruits as the grouping was duly registered by Government of Malawi as a member association of the Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) with name, The Association of Draughts in Malawi (ADMA).
In the same year I made an initiative to develop a website ( https://admamalawi.weebly.com/) which was meant to help in promoting the sport across the nation and also for both MNCS and international body to monitor our activities. A face book page was also created to compliment the website (https://www.facebook.com/DraughtsAssociationOfMalawi/).
The next challenge was to get the National Sport Association across borders to be officially registered with the International Draughts Federation (IDF). In 2013 I took a leading role to have the association registered with an international body and in the same year the national federation was registered with The International Draughts Federation (IDF) https://idf64.org/members/
In 2015 for the first time in the history of the minority sport draughts we participated in the world championship which took place in Russia and I was the leader of delegation.
In 2016 Malawi Participated in the first African Championship in Zambia and I was the leader of delegation. During the event I was certified as an International Arbiter in the Draughts sport
In 2017 I took an active role that ensured our participation in the world championship again in Russia.
In 2018 Malawi hosted second series of African Championship in Draughts64 which was organized at high level and according to international standards, I was the chief organizer of this event. Further after the event an AGM was conducted where I was elected leader of African Draughts Federation which was formed to oversee and consequently promote the activities of draughts sport in Africa
Later in the same year, during the AGM of International Draughts Federation in Bulgaria I was elected as one of board of directors responsible for draughts activities in continent of Africa (https://idf64.org/executive-board/).
In 2019 Malawi was represented in the world Draughts Championship which took place in Europe, Bulgaria and I was the leader of delegation again.
The most memorable moments were when I was shortlisted as the best administrator in the year 2019 and Draughts National Team emerged best national team in the year 2019 during the Sport Award function organized by Malawi National Sports Council.
Since 2013 Malawi has been holding national championships and I have been on the helm of Organising these events.
There were a lot of challenges in all the events that I was directly involved in as follows
- Luck of enough funds
- Luck of sports gear
- Inability to reach remote areas
