Mosah Mokganedi
13 November 2009
The annual North and South softball Under-13 boys and girls tournament takes place at the Westwood International School in Gaborone this weekend.
Four teams are expected to contest in both the boys and girls section. The tournament aims to introduce young players to softball at an early age. The players have been drawn mostly from private primary schools.
The Botswana Softball Association (BSA) spokesperson, Kabelo Kwape said the aim is to spread the game and get young people to acquire softball skills early. He stated that unlike public schools, private learning institutions have better resources. He said that they face a number of challenges in their quest to take softball to school children. He explained that the BSA does not have enough coaches and to plug the deficit, it has started training teachers.
"We have talented children but the problem is that we do not have enough coaches," Kwape said. He stated that they engaged a Japanese instructor to help with the development of softball.
However, the contract of the Japanese has expired and the BSA is waiting for a replacement. The association has one of its officials sitting in the Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA), which is responsible for sport in schools.
The BSA recently received starter kits from the International Softball Federation (ISF) to be distributed to primary schools. Kwape said when they have satisfied themselves that the grassroots development is moving in the right direction, they will launch the Re Ba Bona Ha programme. He said their development programme is promising as some of the players who completed high school last year were part of the senior national team that took part in the World Championships in Canada in June this year. Kwape said they are considering dropping the maximum age for the national team players to under 25.
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