Basden College will send a compact but purpose-driven squad of 41 athletes to the Coca-Cola Games Suva Zone One athletics meet, with the Nasinu school emphasising long-term development rather than immediate medal hauls. Team manager Manit Lal said the Anglican Church–run school has spent four weeks preparing the selected athletes and is focusing on building strength in field events and in the sub-junior and junior grades.
“The training we have been doing for the past four weeks has been going well, the parental support is there, our head of school, the vice principal and AP and the rest of the teachers support is also there,” Lal said, underlining the broad base of local support behind the effort. Lal described the zone meet as a platform to develop a squad that can be competitive in the coming years rather than an all-out bid for immediate dominance.
Selections for the Suva Zone One meet were made after the school’s inter-house competition, a combined event Lal called “a vital aspect” of their preparation that helped identify standout performers across age groups. With limited training time and resources, Lal said the inter-house meet was key to spotting talent quickly and shaping relay teams and event line-ups for the zone competition.
Basden’s plan puts a premium on field events—throws, jumps and technical disciplines—where the school sees a greater opportunity to nurture specialists from the younger grades. Lal said concentrating on the sub-junior and junior squads is intended to establish a pipeline of athletes who can progress through the school’s ranks over several seasons, building technical skills and competition experience.
A persistent constraint for Basden College is its training ground. Lal acknowledged the school’s facilities “may not be up to expectations,” but stressed that the coaching group and school leadership are committed to making the best of what is available. “The main challenge for us is the ground, so we will stick to the plan and we will see if we can achieve it in the coming years,” he said.
The Coca-Cola Games Suva Zone One meet, which brings together schools across the capital’s zones, offers smaller programmes like Basden’s a chance to measure progress against more established athletics schools. The zone meet concludes today, and Lal said results will be assessed with an eye toward refining training and talent identification for next season.
By prioritising a development pathway and youth field events, Basden College hopes to turn this year’s compact squad into a broader, more competitive programme in the years ahead, even as it seeks better training facilities to match its ambitions.
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