Mosah Mokganedi
10 November 2008
Botswana National Olympics Committee (BNOC) affiliates agreed over the weekend that there is need for an expanded and clearly defined structures for talent identification.
During a meeting at the Maharaja Conference Centre in Gaborone the affiliates said that currently, the structures are not well defined and are only confined to certain areas. They said that it is imperative to have scouts who go around the country to search for talent.
BNOC convened a meeting of its affiliates to discuss preparations for major events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games in 2012. Other issues discussed include qualifying standards and sending sportsmen and women to high performance centres.
Affiliates called for competitions to be organised at all levels to improve standards. They said proper marketing and sponsorship strategies should be put in place to market sport.
Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) executive secretary Kitso Kemoeng said that sports people have a habit of coming up with good strategies that are never implemented. He reminded the affiliates that as long as the tendency continues, sport will not grow.
He said that there is need for role clarity between BNOC and BNSC. This is because athletes are sometimes tossed to and fro between the two bodies when in need of help. "We need to revisit our policies and re-define them," he said. He reiterated the importance of sports leaders working together.
Kemoeng said there is need to start focusing on quality and not quantity in sports. He said in some cases, they include some athletes in national teams with the hope that they will do well even when they are not good and this has to come to an end. "We should move from sympathy and select people on their merit," he said.
Kemoeng said it is time that they channelled resources on codes that do well. "It does not make sense wasting money on sports codes that are not doing well," he told the gathering. "There are some codes that put national pride at stake when playing and that is where we should focus our efforts to make sure we do not play with the emotions of the nation," he said.
He added that though this might sound unfair, it is the reality. BNOC secretary general Moses Moruisi said the meeting was to come up with points that will be used as a reference in preparation for games.
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