19 Oct 2015

Botswana Swimming Sport Association (BSSA) marketing and publicity officer, Timothy Maje, says swimming has continued to grow as evidenced by the quality of swimmers in the country.

In an interview at the second swimming league gala in Francistown, Maje said although the sport continued to grow, there was need for proper structures.

He noted that the sport had no structures because due to lack of facilities, government schools could not participate.

He said if government schools participated, there was going to be a pool of swimmers who could be affiliated to already existing structures as Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA) and Botswana Primary School Sports Association (BOPSSA) amongst others.

He said an effort by BSSA to try kindle an interest for swimming in public schools, the association was planning to organise swimming coaching courses for government schools.

Maje said he was optimistic that with the stirred up swimming interest, teachers could utilise existing private pools in their areas to tutor students.

He noted that another challenge faced by swimming was lack of sponsorship for the competitions and he appealed to companies to assist.

He urged Batswana to start swimming because it had a lot benefits that included leisure, therapeutic, physiotherapeutic and could also help in weight loss. Maje said swimming did not have age restriction and one did not need a partner to do it.

He urged parents to encourage their children to swim because it was a life saving skill that could reduce instances of drowning.

Concerning the league, Maje said it attracted eight clubs and three school clubs from around the country.

Maje said most of the swimmers, mostly aged under 12 years and had no seed and the competitions assisted them to have a record time.

He said the competitions were qualifiers for major regional and international competitions such as the African Championships, Commonwealth and Zone Six. The youngest swimmers were Yun-suh Chang of Kubu Club and Uyapo Ndwapi of Gaborone Aquatic Club  both aged six while the eldest was a 49 year old Moitsheki Sagwende of BDF Dolphins. Ends