26 Jul 2018

 Academics from different institutions of higher learning in Africa and the US are working on a collaborative project that will usher in a new approach for youth development through sport in Africa. 

The project came to being through Alliance for Africa Partnerships, which focuses on building bridges, transforming lives and transforming institutions. 

It has drawn academics from University of Botswana (UB), Michigan State University (USA), College of Engineering and Technology University of Dar es Salaam and University of Ghana. 

In his presentation at a panel discussion held at the University of Botswana on July 25, Michigan State University, Department of Kinesiology’s Professor Leapetswe Malete said it was crucial to develop youth life skills through sport.

Such skills, he said included, among others, decision-making, goal setting, communication, time management as well as business planning. 

Through transferable skills learned through sport, he said Africa would also be able to transform its youth.

“Africa would realise this transformation only if the youth is active in decision-making bodies,” he said.

 Statistics indicate that Africa has a world youngest population with 63 per cent estimated to be under the age of 25 and the ongoing project here targets teenagers.

 He said with the knowledge he would import from the US and in partnership with relevant stakeholders such as financiers, motivational speakers, coaches, he remained optimistic that the project would reach every corner of Botswana and at the end yield results. 

Dr Tshepang Tshube, senior lecturer in the Department of Physical Education, Health and Recreation at the UB said the team had worked closely with Botswana Integrated Sport Association’s president, Joshua Gaothobogwe during its pilot project where 25 teenagers participated for a period of two weeks. He said it was fundamental for youth in sport to be accorded life skills. 

Though academics are still piloting the project and lobbying for policies that would infuse the programme in schools curriculum in the quest to develop athletes, Botswana’s former 800m athlete and now entrepreneur, Glody Dube, is already ahead in implementing such.

In an interview, Dube said, “it is very important to acquire other life skills because as an athlete, the ‘competitive lifespan’ is short. 

At the peak of an athlete’s career, it is crucial to be able to spend prudently and invest.” Dube, whose last competition was in 2015 in Cameroon, highlighted the need to guide athletes in making astute decisions. 

He narrated how all that he wanted after the 2000 Olympics that were held in Sydney, Australia, was to drive a RangeRover.

“But once the fat cheque landed in my account I engaged in a brawl that lasted for more than 24 hours with my then coach Adam Letham who was against the decision of buying a vehicle,” he said. 

He added that Letham advised him to buy land instead given that it appreciated as well as its interminable benefits as an investment.

Dube, who graduated at Tlokweng College of Education in 2008, today boasts of guest houses in Gaborone, Francistown and also runs a pre-school in Modipane. 

Meanwhile, the panel discussion, facilitated by Tsoseletso Magang, was held under the theme; Entrepreneurship and life skills through sport: A tool to develop youth.

The discussion was informed by a study carried out in Southern Africa that examined Olympians career development.

Olympians retirement transition and post sport experiences were also examined. Some of the major findings in the study included a significant role played by the school system and national sport federations. ENDS