Moving into Southern Africa with Malt

It was 2013 and she was asked to cooperate in the running of a training camp in preparation for the Youth Olympics. Little did Malt know, she would end up being in charge of the whole thing.

“I did have to look up and find out where Uzbekistan was in the world,” Malt admits. “It was certainly a very interesting trip.” The moment she arrived home from Uzbekistan, Malt received another call, this time to work with three development countries in Southern Africa – Botswana, Namibia and Zambia.

“After Uzbekistan, I was feeling a lot more experienced, so I of course immediately said to keep me in the loop and tell me what they wanted. The idea for this year was to make an initial visit, try to assess what is going on there and to offer them some help to kick start their coaching,” Malt says.

And kick start their coaching, and rowing, she did with a back-to-basics, grassroots approach. Each of the three countries now have an operational rowing club with active rowers ranging from 15 to 30 participants. And Malt says she expects these numbers to have increased by the time she returns for her next visit in February. The structure of the clubs, Malt says, are solid and each of them have found a suitable body of water, which is not always the easiest task in sub-Saharan Africa. They have also worked out how to get local school kids to and from practices. 

“Sallie came on high recommendation from British Rowing as they knew we were struggling with developing sustainable programmes that had continuity,” says FISA Development Manager Sheila Stephens Desbans. “Sallie had already had a lot of experience with developing clubs and local systems and facing challenges on a community level and identifying local solutions.  She has been very able to translate this approach into her work in Southern Africa.” 

“The basic thing that I’m looking for is enthusiasm, I’m not even looking for a lot of pre-knowledge,” Malt says. In countries where rowing is not very well-known, Malt says she can get things moving as long as she has the right people. “The most important resource really in all these projects is people. If you’ve got the enthusiasm and a fairly sensible approach from all the people, then you’ve got a means of moving forward.”

But the biggest challenge right now is to make these clubs autonomous. The limiting factor? Equipment. Currently all of the equipment has to be imported, which is not only expensive and logistically complicated, but can also pose tax and importation problems. Malt says she hopes to make contact with some local, entry-level boat makers  to help augment the current equipment supply.

“In order to get people going, what you need is a large number of boats that have less top value to the club so that you can get a lot of people doing a base level of activity. So, it is the equipment that is a huge stumbling block at the moment,” she explains.

Even with the challenges, Malt is pleased with the progress in all three of these rowing nations. “What I’m looking for is sustainability. What we want there is a real strong structure that has some real grassroots (participation) and is developing people in a sensible way.”

What’s next for Malt? She will return to Namibia in February to run a level two British Rowing course at which she hopes to have between six and 12 coaches in attendance. But she will also be on the lookout for progress at each of the programmes. “I will be surreptitiously nosy,” she says.

“Having Sallie work with these federations has created some great synergies. We are really grateful for the support for her work which is partially covered by GB Rowing and UK Sport along with FISA,” says Stephens. 

Surreptitious, or not, Malt has certainly helped three countries to sow the seeds of rowing and begin to develop sustainable programmes.