09 Apr 2017

An 11-year-old Onkokame Kgololo who hails from Kanye has always fantasised about becoming a world class table tennis player one day.

 

This is, notwithstanding, the fact that television has been the only medium the Standard Five pupil at Mafhikana Primary School has come to know and love the sport. 

 

Lefa Mothonyana, 12, goes to the same school.

 

He also aspires to don national colours, traverse the world and play tennis at the highest level in future.

 

Until Saturday morning, the ambition of the duo and many others with like passion remained just that; a dream.

 

Exhilaration was written in the faces of well over 40 pupils who dared the morning cold to be part of the first ever introductory table tennis coaching clinic at Mafhikana Primary School in Kanye .

 

Lefa who was beaming with excitement told BOPA he just could not wait to be drilled in the sport he has grown to be passionate about over the years.

 

“I am happy that finally I will get the opportunity to learn the intricacies of table tennis,” he said.

 

The brainchild behind the idea, Mr Rorisang Raesima, 34, has always had fire in the belly to help grow and develop the sport at grass roots level.

 

“I wanted to break away from the norm by introducing the sport to pupils at primary school level because the trend now is that children only get exposed to the code at Junior secondary which I am convinced limit them to play tennis at the highest level,” he said.

 

The trick according to Raesima is to catch the children while young; something he stated placed them in a better stead to contend for medals with the best in the world in future.

 

Initially, Raesima and team had charged P250 per child as coaching fee but swiftly abandoned the idea upon realising low turnout of pupils.

 

“We have gone back on the coaching fee for now and are providing our services free of charge for the entire month of April so that we can attract as many kids as we can. I have to state however that after April, we are going to reintroduce coaching fees because we definitely need funds to keep this initiative going,” he said.

 

So determined is Raesima and company that they intend to go to individual schools in Kanye to bring table tennis to young enthusiasts.

 

The programme will also introduce tournaments and ultimately a mini league which will hopefully give young and aspiring table tennis future stars the necessary platform and exposure.

At the moment, Raesima who is about to finish his first level coaching course, is happy with the assistance he is getting from Botswana Table Tennis Association, which has thus far assisted with a total of five table tennis boards to be used throughout the coaching exercise. ENDS