13 Aug 2018

Botswana National Olympic Committee programmes manager, Wedu Motswetla has urged students to develop positive behaviour in the field of play and transfer it to other life endeavours.

Speaking at the launch of the Olympic value education programme at Parwe Junior Secondary School in Mahalapye recently, she said Olympism was a philosophy of life promoting good qualities of body, will and mind.

She said the philosophy of Olypisim, which was promoted through the teaching of Olympic values, was aimed at empowering learners to work hard through sport and build a better future by educating youth through sport.

She said sport must contribute to a well-balanced development of the body, personality and mind and encouraged students to balance sports with academics.

Motswetla said the Olympic values encouraged young people to do well in life.

“These values build a strong character in young people, helping them to escape daily life challenges and to be tolerant. To tolerate people who are different from them and situations that are not within their control and adapt to different environments that they encounter,” she added.

In the field of play, Motswetla said one must learn to respect their team mates, opponents, respect life and learn that rules exist. She said sport also helped young people to develop a sense of hope, identity and improve their health.

“It impacts not only on their physic, but mental strength also, and whatever they achieve on the field of play must also impact positively on their academic performance,” she said.

She added that the Olympic value education programme was also aimed at encouraging students to compete fairly both on the field of play and in the classroom.

She also said students were taught to pursue excellence no matter the circumstances.

“It is all about character building, they are inspired to achieve the best that they can as they travel the world competing,” Ramotswetla said.

She said young athletes were faced with new challenges that they were not used to and therefore the Olympic values instil confidence to compete fairly despite the challenges.

Presenting on safe sport, Botswana Netball Association president, Malebo Raditladi said the field of play must be accommodative and conducive, but said it was unfortunate to note that promising young athletes were abandoning sports.

She said a research carried out in Southern Africa has revealed that young athletes opted out because they were being asked for favours to make it in sports.

“Be in a position to resist temptation, you are there because of your talent and therefore there is no need to ask for a favour. So say no to any unscrupulous behaviour and use your talent to move up the ladder,” she said.

Raditladi said issues of abuse are also a stumbling block in growing young in sports citing verbal and sexual harassment as some concerns for the growth of sport.

“These abuses are never done by people you do not know, our research findings have proved that perpetrators are either coaches or fellow athletes. It is unfortunate because you keep quiet and decide to quit instead of taking the right action,” she said.

Cases of bribery, neglect and match fixing were also recorded as among the common challenges affecting young people in sport with age cheating as recorded as the most common and Raditladi appealed to young people to abide by the laws of the game and must never consent to being given an unfair chance of competing by reducing their ages. ENDS