05 Oct 2015

 Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) vice president technical has expressed concern over the declining number of women volleyball clubs.

George Kootsene said this during the Capital Motors Independence Cup Top 8 in Serowe on Saturday. Eight men and four women teams participated in the cup, thus the men played the quarter finals while women’s encounter kicked off from the semi-finals.

Kootsene said the problem between teachers and their employer had contributed to this decline.   He said the problem created a gap as most of their players were students.

“Other than that, our teams are financially constrained and cannot sustain both men and women teams, and in most cases the clubs, do away with the female ones.”

The official said clubs, which were doing well, were relying on tertiary students or players, who were employed. As such, he said such players did not require much financial support. To retain unemployed or out of school players, he said it was costly as teams did not have the means to.

Kootsene said most of their women teams were effective when institutions such as Botswana Defence Force and Prisons were supporting such. As a result, he said they experienced a setback following institutions’ decision to stop supporting the clubs.

He said some promising and competitive players were idling, while some relied on constituency league to survive.

Presently, Kootsene said they were pinning their hopes on mini-volleyball to help in the development of players, as they were experiencing gaps at higher levels.
The vice president-technical said they were strengthening their relationship with BISA, hence their decision to extend some of their sponsorship to BISA to aid their programmes.

“We want to bring BISA closer to share the limited resources.” So far, he said they had a healthy relationship with BOPSSA.

Meanwhile, the games organising committee chairman, Ndibo Kebolebale was impressed with some of the games played on the day, saying some teams displayed maturity and experience.

Kebolebale said some teams’ performances were affected by the recent independence break. “If teams had incentives, they would be able to lure the players not to go for holidays.

But with their current situations it is impossible to keep players.” Meanwhile, Police defeated Kalavango men by 3-1 to qualify for the semi-finals. Kutlwano whitewashed Itekeng 3-0 to move to the next leg. Selebatso Mabutho’s lads, BDF VI defeated Mag Stimela by 3-1.

Mag Stimela and BDF VI’s encounters were known for generating sparks as the two did not see eye to eye. Although the army side was known for their ability, they usually had a trying victory with the Mahalapye side.

Spiking Stars, humbled the defending champions, Diphatsa eclipsing them 3-0 to book a place in the semis. The finals are billed for Molepolole next weekend. ends