22 Aug 2017

Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) is on a mission to increase participation in karate country wide.

Botswana Karate Association president, Tshepho Bathai said the project dubbed Project 1000, was an outreach programme for karate to have 1 000 dojos by 2020.

The project targets 1 000 primary schools, 200 junior secondary schools as well as technical colleges and universities.

Bathai, who was addressing instructors during a BOKA meeting in Palapye, said the project would help ensure that instructors were certified as currently there were instructors who were not certified or regulated.

He said BOKA was the only legal structure responsible for regulating karate in the country and was affiliated to World Karate Federation.  

He said last year karate was admitted as an Olympic sport, hence the need to work hard to qualify for Tokyo 2020.

Bathai called for karate members to always display karate values such as sincerity, effort, discipline, etiquette and self-control wherever they went.  

Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA) national organiser, Kakanyo Emang raised a concern about teachers coordinating karate but having no knowledge of the sport.

He said teachers coordinating karate should be trained so as to be equipped with an understanding of the sport.

He said it was high time BOKA as a regulating body met teachers coordinating karate at BISA and Botswana Primary School Sports Association levels so that they reach a common understanding of the sport and close the existing gap between BOKA and BISA.

Karate coordinator and also teacher at Makhubu JSS, Khumoyame Gaelebalwe confirmed having no knowledge of the sport yet she was a coordinator.

She said she relied on trainers from the federation the school karate club is affiliated to, adding that it was hard to know when the trainers were not doing the right thing.

She added that BOKA should assist in training teachers coordinating karate and ensure that federations sent certified trainers to schools.

The BOKA president concurred that karate should adopt the same standard regardless of the federations the clubs were affiliated to. ENDS