08 Feb 2016

Francistown West MP, Ignatius Moswaane has implored Gerald Estates residents to take sports as a career path.

Speaking at the launch of the Nyambe Sports Academy tournament, Moswaane stated that sport plays an important role in life especially that youth unemployment is rampant. He said linking sports to youth employment could bring about positive results as young peoples’ skills in sports can be put to good use.

He said Nyambe tournament will drastically change the young people’s behaviour because some of them have come to realised that they have talents.

He said in addition to playing, they should also spend numerous hours in hard practices every day, perfecting skills and learning teamwork, noting that sports will keep them from indulging in drug and alcohol abuse.

He encouraged them to be aware that like the athletes on the field, people working in sports are also very competitive. They tend to be ready for a challenge and do what it takes to move ahead.

Moswaane said he will support the Nyambe Sports Academy due the passion he saw from the young person.

For his part, the managing director of Nyambe Sports Academy, Thabo Nyambe said through the tournament, they have realised that sports can be a career and have seen through a number of sports personalities who have raised the Botswana Flag so high at the international level.

He noted that the aim of the academy is to nurture the kids at grassroots level so that by the time they start professional competitions they will have developed their talents so much that they can uplift the country.

Nyambe explained that there have been many positives from the tournament because some of the youth have indicated taking their talents to professional level. In addition he said since 2013, the tournament has been a self-help project and he was using his own resources to help other young people to develop their talents.

Nyambe said he applied for the funding from the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture in 2015 and was successful.

Further, he said he is developing the ideas into a fully-fledged academy because he has realised that having a once off tournament is a good thing, but they need to do more if they are to develop sports in Botswana.

He revealed that he has adopted Tagala primary school in Gerald Estates with an intention to uplift and promote all sporting codes in line with his academy’s focus of grooming and nurturing children at a tender age to excel in sports.

Nyambe said they are currently looking for land that they can use to partner with government in developing sports in Francistown and even beyond. Ends