Mosah Mokganedi
19 March 2008
Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) secretary general Game Mothibi has announced that she will not seek another term in the coming elections billed for May.
Mothibi is standing down due to academic commitments. She has promised that she would be available to help table tennis whenever she can. She is pursuing a master's degree in sports management. She said the expertise she will gain from the course will benefit not only table tennis but sports in general. She said she would consider standing for the position after finishing her studies.
Mothibi said she has learnt a lot as table tennis secretary. "I have learnt a lot of things like how to be a responsible leader. Table tennis has made me what I am," she said. She asserted that during her reign, they trained umpires and coaches and formed a national team. "Our national team managed to participate in Zone VI games last year where they finished in the second position out of six countries," she said. She added that the association increased its membership from five teams when they took over to 12. The association got a fully-fledged office from the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC). Mothibi said table tennis has grown but not at the desired pace. She regrets that the sport does not have a good following. That is why BTTA is taking the sport to people by having games in open spaces like Game City mall. She advised whoever aspires to take her position to be prepared to face many challenges. She said the person should understand and have table tennis at heart. "I should admit that table tennis is trailing behind and we need someone who will take the sport to another level," she said.
Until recently, another problem with table tennis was that it was inactive at the regional level. Mothibi said that locally, BTTA face a challenge in that it is dominated by young people. "We need elder people to guide us," she said. She is grateful to everybody who supported her during her tenure. She said though table tennis is a small code, it has always received enough media coverage contrary to the belief that the press is only interested in big sports like football.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
