27 Jul 2017

Botswana Primary Schools Sports Association (BOPSSA) president, Busani Segweni has called for financial support to help uncover talent at the grassroots level.

Segweni said this when briefing the media on the BOPSSA national games which commenced in Maun on July 26 and end on July 29.

He said BOPSSA games were the backbone of sports development in the country, as they unearthed talent at the grassroots level.

Sports, he said, produced well rounded pupils and kept the young engaged and disciplined.

Segweni noted that the BOPSSA national games attracted pupils from 10 regions across the country in the six codes of netball, football, volleyball, cricket, chess and athletics from the 756 primary schools in the country.

However, Segweni said their games normally experienced poor attendance although BOPSSA made efforts in hosting the games in various places across the country.

He said it was a concern that parents in those respective places failed to show support to their children during the competitions.

BOPSSA, he said, was challenged by the lack of sponsorship.

Segweni said it had been many years since BOPSSA had been operating without an official sponsor except for the teachers’ and pupils welfare from the Ministries of Basic Education and that of Local Government and Rural Development.

He, however, appreciated partnerships from stakeholders such as Botswana Teachers’ Union and Botswana Secondary Education Teachers’ Union (BOSETU) .

Segweni said BOPSSA has appealed to private schools to be a part of BOPSSA, adding that it was promising but that only two private schools have responded.

Vice president technical, Selebatso Keabetswe said BOPSSA produced sportsmen and women of repute who could contribute to the sports development of the country.

Keabetswe observed that the competitions challenged the schools to outperform one another, and that they produced sports icons such as Aobakwe Mokobela of high jump and Barati Phesudi who played at the just ended Netball World Youth Cup games. ENDS