22 Sep 2014

Botswana Tertiary Student Sports Association (BOTESSA) has been urged to create an atmosphere of sports excellence within their respective institutions.

Officially opening the BOTESSA annual general meeting in Francistown, a representative from Tati River Lodge, Andy Boatile said the annual meeting was a platform of the BOTESSA family to assess contribution of their athletes sporting excellence, character, development and performance.

He said such opportunity allowed them as an association to reflect on the contribution of their code towards the growth of sport in Botswana. Boatile further said at tertiary level their athletes were at an age where they should be playing in different major leagues in the country and in the national teams. 

He said creating an enabling atmosphere would give athletes a chance to access opportunities to compete and enhance their skills within any sporting area of their choice.

Boatile said if they executed their mandate as sports administrator at tertiary level, athletes can learn life lessons and develop valuable character traits, adding that those valuable traits can be passed to the young and upcoming athletes.  He said as they dissolved the previous executive committee, they should strive to vote for capable leaders.

Francistown Institute of Health Sciences principal, Kitso Ntirelang appreciated BOTESSA’s success in the development of sports in tertiary institutions.

He said it was indeed in that category where they find large numbers of the youth who needed to be developed physical and mentally. 

Ntirelang also noted that as a developing sporting nation they were faced with many challenges but BOTESSA continues to thrive despite these hiccups.

“We have seen the country hosting major sporting events and I believe BOTESSA has contributed significantly to the success of those events,’’ he said. 

He said gone were the days when sport was used as a way of passing time but noted that today sports can develop the body and mind, adding that sports can also create employment and unite people. ENDS