25 Jul 2016

Zebras head coach, Peter Butler says he was impressed by the players who participated in the one day Under 21 football tournament for the Mahalapye region.

In an interview during the tournament in Mahalapye on July 23, Butler said the players displayed skill, passion, and enthusiasm during the games.

That he said gave him courage that Botswana would in the near future have strong and good players from across all national football teams, being, Under 17, 21 and 23 as well as the Zebras.

He said Botswana has massive talent that needed to be nurtured from grassroot level, so that the country could have strong and competitive players in the national teams. He said training and guiding young players in the right path, the country would soon reap good results. However, Butler said despite the country having much talent especially amongst the youth, some players were often left out because they stay far  v v from resources.

Butler said one of the objectives of the tournaments was to reach every player in the country regardless of where they were.

He noted that every player stand a chance to play for the national teams, and if they were nurtured at younger stage they could be of use in the future. Butler said they aspire to create a base of young players, adding that such tournaments would not be only useful to players only, but also to the development coaches.

He said they also wish to have these tournaments on regular basis  so that coaches and young players could get used to the spirit of competition. He appealed to more sponsors to help sport and advised young players to dream big, aim higher and keep on playing sport.

One of the organisors, Patrick Masheto said the tournament was a success.

Masheto said such tournaments were very beneficial to the youngsters as they motivate players, market and read them for employment in to the bigger teams. He said  the tournament was a way of taking football to the people, hence going around the country encouraging players who in the future would see themselves playing for the national teams. 

He noted that throughout these tournaments certain players would be selected to represent their regions and would then compete in the finals which would be held in August 20-21 in Serowe. Ends