23 Mar 2015

The Re Ba Bona Ha programme funded by Debswana to unearth sporting talent from grass root level, collaborated with Botswana Rugby Union (BRU) to hold a rugby sporting festival in Selebi Phikwe  on March 21 .

The sporting festival, which was for children aged between six and 15 years, attracted roughly 200 children, out of which 50 were girls.

The member of BRU executive committee, Thusego Segaise, said the objective of the programme was to unearth talent among children and give them a foundation for rugby.

Furthermore, he said the aim of the event was to increase participation and promote the sport among youth. “The programme is meant to keep children active in sport for leisure and also encourage them to play rugby,” he said.

Segaise said they initiated a rugby centre and held rugby festivals for youth in Selebi Phikwe monthly since 2011. He said they are still due to open other rugby centers in Francistown and Maun where they would also hold rugby festival for youth.

He said they were looking forward to have rugby introduced as a sporting code in schools around the country and also have tournaments to help the sport grow. Some of the achievements they made since the inception of the programme, he said was that a team selected from the programme performed well in the past two years. He said they made champions of the 2013 and 2014 under 12 rugby tournament that takes place in Bulawayo annually.

He said the team has also played in some junior school tournaments in South Africa to expose the players into a bigger arena. He said so far, they have been doing well and they are hoping that the children will continue playing the sport to senior levels. ENDS