27 Apr 2017

Having a strong grassroots development programme will strengthen the future level of competitiveness of Botswana football, Botswana Football Association (BFA) chief executive officer has said.
Briefing the media ahead of the Inter Block Youth Tournament, which starts today and continue tomorrow in Gaborone, Ookeditse Malesu said youth development was vital in determining local football’s future prospects.
“A strong national team requires strong grassroots development, and we are confronted with the mammoth task of undertaking youth development for our football,” Malesu said.
He added that Inter Block Youth Tournament was a culmination of youth development competitions, which were launched by the BFA in November last year.   
BFA technical officer-youth development, Odirile ‘China’ Matlhaku explained that the teams competing represented the best players from the association’s blocks.

“The BFA has 17 regions including the tournament’s host region Gaborone, and the regions make up four blocks, among them the Southern block of which Gaborone is a part of. Since November, teams countrywide have been participating in the youth league in the under 13, 15 and 17 categories, and the best players were selected to represent the four blocks in this tournament,” Matlhaku said.
He said the cream of the players from the under 13, 15 and 17 age categories for both girls and boys’ teams would be selected from the players due to partake in the tournament.
“We will have 120 participants from each block; 20 boys and 20 girls in the three age categories. They will play a tournament in different fields in Gaborone West, including the Duma Chiefs ground, the Diphetogo and Bophirima primary school grounds, as well as the Youth Centre “Mma Masire” grounds,” Matlhaku said. ENDS

He said the players selected would form what he called ‘shadow national teams’ saying that they would continue identifying further talent to augment them into national squads.
The women’s development officer in the BFA technical office, Barobi Ngwako said that all the regions now have girl’s football, and that they would work on creating female coaches to work on them.
She said the development of a girl child would lead to improved women’s football in the country. ENDS