The Voice (Francistown)
22 April 2008
column
As an 'armchair' journalist, you'll understand I don't get invited to many press conferences. But then last week I heard about the meeting at the Grand Palm in aid of the young Batswana swimmers who have been specially invited to take part in the upcoming Olympics through some kind of wild card system set up for developing countries. All good stuff you might think but apparently sponsorship is lacking which is why the folks at Sugar Industries have stepped in.
Of course, the concept that Botswana may take part in such a prestigious world event in a sport that may appear unfamiliar to us is unusual - but not contradictory. After all, to re-use a well-known local joke, 'just because Botswana is like a long beach with plenty of sand but the tide always appears out!' does not mean that we should cut ourselves off from such pursuits in the international arena.
Ok, a few years ago there was the big international hoot about the film of the so-called Jamaican blob sleigh team who had an ambition to take part in the winter Olympics! Word went around that how could the Jamaicans possibly do such a thing? There's no snow in the Caribbean region of the world so how could they learn the winter sports techniques of countries that had been doing such things for many years in a climate of total ice and snow? And then there was that chap from the UK (whose nickname eludes me for the moment) who wanted to take part in the Ski Jump competition at one of the winter Olympic venues!
Belief in yourself and others is surely one of the aims and objectives of the Olympic movement so I'm all in favour of sending such teams of youngsters and well done to the management of Sugar Industries from Lobatse for taking up the challenge - where others have clearly failed to see the need!
Here, we might look a bit further and ask ourselves why the government has not done much more to assist in the development of summer sports like swimming? And its also ironic that if you look at the many private primary schools dotted around the nation many of them are excelling in these areas - but the whole thing falls flat when kids come into secondary school where there's a lack of facilities and the competitive edge that is developed in the primary sector fails to materialize. The fact that Botswana athletes have done well in many events internationally indicates that by being given a chance elsewhere we can build on very basic beginnings. Planners in the MOE take note that we need 50m swimming pools in all senior secondary schools. Yes, they are expensive to run but what is not in this increasingly costly country? Pride in our nation and our sporting abilities do not come cheap!
Good luck guys we are behind you all the way!
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