Coaching courses across three different sports have been held by the Lesotho National Olympic Committee ©LNOC

After taking their biggest ever squad of athletes for an Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro, the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC) are already putting plans in progress to secure future success.

A total of eight athletes represented Lesotho in Brazil and in recent weeks, the LNOC has successfully conducted three coaching courses in three sports.

Maged Salama of Austria conducted a basic technical course for weightlifting coaches and also visited the five regional centres where the programme is currently being used.

Coaches in these centres have been working on a talent identification initiative since early September and now possess the tools to further develop new and existing talent, it is claimed.

The Federation of Cycling Lesotho was the second sport to benefit from a coaching course with those involved receiving a level one technical course conducted by Belgian expert Simon Hupperetz.

Cycling is an emerging sport in Lesotho, with Phetetso Monese becoming the country's first ever representative in the sport during the mountain bike event at Rio 2016.

The course was held in the town of Morija and all 13 candidates successfully passed the course.

The three sports to benefit were tennis (pictured), cycling and weightlifting ©LNOC
The three sports to benefit were tennis (pictured), cycling and weightlifting ©LNOC

A third coaching programme encompassed back-to-back International Tennis Federation (ITF) basic and level one coaching courses.

The basic course, called "Play Tennis" was aimed at coaches and teachers from local schools, aimed at children developing from an early age, channelling them into elite programmes within the Lesotho Tennis Federation.

A total of 24 participants completed the course with candidates that also demonstrated adequate tennis skills subsequently invited to join the level one technical course for coaches.

Both courses were conducted by ITF development officer for Southern Africa, Riaan Kruger.

The LNOC Medical Commission has also instigated a multi-tiered Anti-Doping workshop funded by Olympic Solidarity aimed at four different groups: athletes, coaches, pharmacists and peer educators.

The course content for each of the groups was tailored according to needs, but covered areas such as anti-doping regulations and procedures, banned substances and results management.

In total, more than 200 participants benefited from this programme across all the population groups and we are confident that this will have a rippling effect to benefit the whole sporting community in Lesotho.