Representatives of judo, hockey, football, weightlifting, swimming, boxing, skateboarding, taekwondo, handball, volleyball, basketball, cycling, baseball and softball, martial arts and university sports heard a progress report from the Athletes' Commission’s Sydney Siame, the 2019 African Games 200 metres champion and a Tokyo 2020 Olympian.

"Since our election into office, we visited 50 per cent of federations, and talks on athletes' concerns have been held with various stakeholders including the Ministry of Youth, Sport, and Arts," Siame said.

Siame encouraged athletes to sign up for the Athlete365 online platform to help them gain vital sporting knowledge.

Olympians Association President Jonathan Chipalo was present to share his story on how it helped him make a career transition following his retirement from athletics.

"When my career in sport ended I thought that was the end of my life but I took signed up for Athlete356 online learning platform and enrolled for different courses," the 60-year-old former sprinter who competed over 400m at the Seoul 1988 Olympics said.

"I was then given an opportunity to go and study a business accelerator course.

"After completion I registered my own company and my business started functioning though in the COVID-19 times I was advised by my trainers to take up a mobile training centre which yielded good results."

Chipalo concluded by describing how the business accelerator programme accorded him an opportunity to hold a talk in Egypt about how he was running his business, and also encouraged other Olympians to register.

Felix Munyika, NOCZ communications officer, gave a brief presentation on the multi-sport competitions lined up for 2023, expected qualifying standards, and the role of National Federations (NFs) and NOCZ in team selection for various competitions.

Munyika urged athletes to work hard to be part of any event next year, emphasising the fact that qualifying starts with the athlete's mentality towards achieving their goal by themselves.

NOCZ safe sport officer Prudence Nswana followed up with a session highlighting safe sport and how to ensure it is practiced within NFs.

Nswana said that the NOCZ has a safe sport policy which was approved by the Board and is available to NFs.

She added that the NOCZ has adopted a whistleblowing policy to protect athletes and give them the confidence to report on safeguarding issues.

Communications expert Walter Kasempa shared examples of proper communication channels athletes are to use to communicate and focused on what time to communicate, how to communicate, how to write when communicating formally, and lastly personal branding.

A session on anti-doping was also part of the workshop which was led by NOCZ Medical Commission chairperson Titus Fernando.

The workshop concluded with a presentation from the Athletes' Commission chairperson Richard Mulenga who shared details about the Olympic Values Education Programme and how athletes are to consider paying particular attention to these values to help them in their careers.