03 Aug 2014

Botswana Netball Association (BONA) courts were on Saturday (August 2) the place to be for netball enthusiasts as the fresh BONA Spar Superstars tournament took off where players will be selected for the national team.

The five weeks tournament which is sponsored to the tune of P300 000 by Spar will see the 100 identified players fighting for the national team spot.

Players have been categorised into six teams being the TeamBONA which is the current senior national team, MaLittle comprising of the junior team which competed during the African Youth Games, SparNorth, SparSouth, Spar Schools and FutureStars.

TeamBONA dominated on the day winning all their games first beating SparSchools 68-12 went on to wallop SparSouth 69-19 and wrapped up the day thrashing MaLittle 69- 17.

TeamBONA looked composed in all their duels as they threw in a variety of players in their games but they still blended well.

The scoring prowess of Portia Rasekhumba, Tebogo Radipotsane, Thulaganyo Retshabile and Tumisang Bagidi was too much to handle for other teams as they walked all over their opponents.


In their final game of the day, TeamBONA proved that experience counts walking over MaLittle who looked nervous against their seniors. MaLittle were casual in the middle court as they lost possession to the veterans who made it even worse as they closed in on the youngsters.

In other games, MaLittle beat

FutureStars 34-18, SparNorth thrashed SparSchools 55-49.
In her opening speech at the games, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, Ruth Maphorisa said there is more to be done at the development stage in order for Botswana to excel in sport.

She emphasised that sport needs more sponsors at grass roots programmes to ensure that athletes go through all the structures without having to drop out because of financial constraints.

The PS said focus is very important in netball in that for a player to score they have to target a goal post. “Commitment, passion and perseverance are very keys in sport, you are here to earn a place in the national team and prove that you are stars,” she said.

BONA spokesperson, Ntebo Maplanka said the tournament is aimed at identifying players for the national team who will carry the nation’s hopes next year in Australia at the World Cup. She said the games should be motivation for all the selected players as they got a chance to don the national colours should they be selected. ENDS