12 Feb 2016

Sankoyo Bush Bucks will host an Under 21 tournament at Maun Sports Complex on March 6 to identify talent.

The club’s public relations officer, Baganetsi Kamanakao said 12 teams from different regions will take part in the tournament that will be coordinated by national team coach, Peter Butler.

He said teams include those from Ghanzi, Boteti and North West as they had already shown interest.

Kamanakao explained that the idea of hosting the tournament was one of the recommendations of the national coach, who was recently invited together with Botswana Football Association president, Tebogo Sebego to address management and motivate players. 

He said the duo believe that talent is abundant in the North West District and only needs to be nurtured and developed. 

During their visit, they also observed that players from the region had unique physical attributes that made them more attractive.

He said the idea was to develop a retention strategy for the club which had lost many key players. 

He said through the tournament, they would be able to identify talent and secure quality players who would be recruited into the club.

He explained that according to Butler, hosting such tournaments had worked wonders for big international teams such as Manchester United and believed the club could also benefi.

Kamanakao also noted that the event was one of the requirements of club licensing as teams were expected to have development teams to qualify.

He said they had invited Orapa United which was doing well because of the strategies in place. He said the team has an Under 19 development team, and hoped they could benchmark and learn from them.

Kamanakao said their intention is to host the tournament annually to unearth more talent, groom players and take football to greater heights. 

He said the event would start locally and ultimately reach the national level.

He said preparations were progressing well as they had informed all stakeholders about the event.

He also noted that they had not secured any sponsor, but that they had approached several companies and were still waiting for their response. ENDS