13 Mar 2018

For sport to grow,  constituency league and elite leagues (mainstream leagues) in the country should play complementary roles. The observation was made by Botswana National Olympic Committee- chief executive officer Tuelo Serufho .

  Speaking during Cycle 3 of 2017/2018   constituency sports tournament award at Ghanzi on March 10, Serufho  explained that constituency leagues bridged the gap or meets the shortfalls of main stream leagues in identification of talent, particularly at rural settings.

He said he had observed that some constituency players needed little polishing to be fully fleshed players and fit well in elite league setting. Also, he explained that last year when some leagues of some sporting codes delayed in kick off, some of their players kept themselves busy at constituency, particularly netball and volleyball.

He said therefore, the associations, did not suffer much loss. Turning to the youth, he said as they were impressionable and gullible, they should turn to constituency leagues which h said would divert them from social mischief.   
Constituency tournaments, Serufho further said had some health benefits to them as  they helped in preventing lifestyle diseases.

The BNOC- CEO told his audience that constituency tournaments did not only nurture talent of players but also nurtured administrators and coaches.
Serufho stated that they were willing to train and develop those who could be identified or who had commitment to coaching or had passion to be sport administrators.

He cautioned the players against the use of performance enhancing substances or methods, saying the country was already embroiled in that predicament.
Thus, he said doping education should be incorporated in all games. Ghanzi District Commissioner Loeto Porati hailed President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama for coming up with constituency tournaments, saying they brought great benefits to the youth and sport in general.

 Porati said from inception of this initiative sport had grown in leaps and bounds and the behaviour of youth had changed for the better.He thanked all the stakeholders including players.
 Kgosi Botshelo Lekgothu of Ghanzi challenged those who lost not to despair but to rather work hard to win something in future.

The teams that won included Moremogolo from region 4 that emerged football champions, Block 8 from the same region were declared kings of volleyball while Getto ferns also from region 4 were crown netball queens.
As that was not enough as Moremogolo was chosen as most disciplined team in football. In volleyball ladies, Enkondonboro from region 2 scooped position one.

Their male counterparts (Enkondonboro volleyball males) managed to scoop the most disciplined team award in volleyball male category.

The host team (region 1), Rising Stars salvaged the most disciplined team award in volleyball ladies category, while Livingstone from Molepolole took most disciplined team award in Netball category. ENDS