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Wrestling enters new era with Namib Storm, SADC champs

• 12 Hours Ago

Namibian Wrestling Federation (NWF) yesterday launched the 2025 Namib Storm training camp and Southern African Development Community (SADC) Open Championships, a ground-breaking initiative poised to reshape wrestling development in the Southern African region.

Speaking at the launch held at Olympic House in Windhoek, NWF president Colin Steytler outlined the importance of the event, which runs from 30 June to 5 July at the Windhoek Showgrounds.

“This is where everything comes together – grassroots, elite and development levels. It’s the most important step we’ve taken to date in bringing our strategic goals to life,” he said.

The Namib Storm Wrestling Week (30 June – 3 July) serves as a high-performance training camp, offering advanced coaching and referee education led by United World Wrestling (UWW). This year, Namibia will host Level 3 coaching and Level 2 refereeing certification, a first for the country and a significant step for the region.

“You can’t grow grassroots wrestling without qualified coaches,” Steytler emphasised.

The second part of the week features the SADC Open Championships on 4 July, attracting top wrestlers from countries like Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe – many of whom are African champions or continental medallists.

Crucially, the SADC open is the first regional tournament in Southern Africa to be officially recognised by UWW as a rated event, allowing both referees and athletes to earn international points.

“This changes the game. Normally, we’d have to spend over N$100 000 to send two athletes to Europe for ranking points. Now, we can send a full team within the region and still gain that recognition. It’s a massive development for our sport,” Steytler said.

The programme closes on 5 July with a beach wrestling event, part of a growing UWW movement to make wrestling more accessible globally. Known as African/Beach Wrestling, the discipline requires only sand and a rope, making it ideal for outreach in rural communities.

“Beach wrestling is now so important that it will be the only form of wrestling at next year’s Youth Olympics in Senegal,” Steytler explained. “And on 7 December, Namibia will host its first-ever beach wrestling tournament in Swakopmund.”

The combined initiative is part of the NWF’s broader five-year plan to become self-sustainable. It aims to increase participation, bridge the gap between grassroots and elite levels to eventually win Olympic medals.

“The Namib Storm Week and SADC Open pull all of our strategic elements together. From here, we take what we’ve built back to the regions and expand wrestling further than ever before.”