15 Mar 2016

Bamangwato Toyota, a retail dealer in Toyota vehicles, has donated tracksuits to the national U-21 womens hockey team.

In an interview after the handing over of the tracksuits, the general manager of Bangwato Toyota, Conrad Visser said the move was part of their organisations corporate social responsibility to give back to the community.

He said his organisation has donated or assisted the community a number of times, and that the handing over of tracksuits to the hockey team was good for them.

He said playing a role in sport and supporting sport from the grassroots level was one of their company objectives. He said as an organisation they were obliged to motivate the youth to engage in sport and keep busy to avoid engaging in deviant behaviour. 

He said to see young girls’ taking up sport and ‘hockey’ was a welcome move, and that they intend to do more to assist in the future.  “We hope to see the national U-21 hockey team doing well at the coming Africa championship slated for later this week,” he said.

 The team’s coach, Nicky Wallace expressed gratitude to Bamangwato Toyota for sponsoring them with tracksuits. She said the company was the first to donate to the hockey team, and that they still need more assistance. She appealed to Batswana and other business organisations to emulate what Toyota has done.

She explained that the Africa tournament would take place in  Namibia starting this weekend and that the official opening would take place on Friday. She noted that 18 players from various schools around the country would be representing the country at the championships. She said they expect teams representing different African countries to take part at the competitions.

She indicated that the hockey competitions take place annually, and that they were held in Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa in previous years.

Botswana Hockey Association (BHA) chairperson, Unaswi Mathebu also called on other organisations to step in and assist the team where possible. She said the young players need as much motivation as possible.

She also said BHA needs assistance to keep afloat and to be able to attract young players to take up hockey as a sport from the grassroot level. She pleaded with Batswana and business organisations to put a hand in sport development. Ends