19 Nov 2015

General secretary of Botswana Swimming Association (BSSA), Kabelo Maje says the 2015 swimming gala season was a success.

Maje said the 3rd gala is one of their important swimming events of the season because it is the last of the meet of the season.  

BSSA held its third and last gala in swimming association calendar at the University of Botswana recently. The first gala was hosted at the same venue in September while the second one took place in Francistown.

“The 3rd gala gives opportunity to those swimmers who missed the last two events, more over to check their times at competition level before the nationals,” he said.

He further explained that it marks and makes way for the entry of the biggest event in the swimming calendar which is the national swimming competitions.

“The nationals are the biggest event in our calendar, so we are expecting all the elite and aspiring swimmers to attend the competitions,” he added.

Maje explained that the gala was meant to help prepare for the upcoming nationals. He said the results will be used as a qualifier for the nationals to those who did not have any seeding.He also said it is a perfect chance for those who did not perform well to wind up and sharpen their skills.

“We are facing a huge challenge from our women side because it is clear now that most of the girl child when they reach their teenage stage they quit playing,” he said.

He explained that the association is not quite sure what might be the cause of the problem. He cited that most of the promising kids when they start their form 5 level, they quit swimming, something he pointed out as a concern to them because it is a draw back.

Therefore he said they saw it fit to engage with relevant stakeholders to do a research on what causes the challenge, with regards to the girl child quitting sport at that age.

Among the swimmers, one promising athlete Amantle Mogara scored a new personal best (PB) time in the women under 16 for the 50 meter freestyle race. Going into the event the 16 year old from Tutume had a record of 31.23s, and she recorded a new PB of impressive 30.84s.

Mogara expressed her delight on her achievement and attributed it to hard work. She thanked her family for their support which made it easy for her to attain good results. “My ambition is to qualify for level three and from there maybe I can qualify for the youth Olympics next year,” she said.

Darren Morton Gators School of swimming club (DMSS) emerged as the biggest winner from the gala, having collected 2869 points from the women side. On second position are Gaborone Aquatic club with 1582 and Kubu swimming club with 542 points.

In the men side, DMSS gators also dominated over other clubs securing 2869 with the second placed Gaborone Aquatic club courting 2070 points. While on third place BDF Dolphins followed with 947 points. The nationals will take place in Gaborone in December. Ends