02 Sep 2018

Artesia Junior Secondary School has been identified as one of the centres of excellence to nurture pupils talent in sport.

A senior sports teacher at the school, Kabelo Motlhagodi said in an interview that the school was established as a centre of sports excellence for volleyball and football in 2011 as one of the 12 countrywide.

He said Artesia soccer school of excellence was first initiated by Artesia staff and Botswana Football Association (BFA) around 2005/2006 with a view to address challenges encountered by the school.

Motlhagodi said the programme started on a voluntary basis with officers showing high levels of passion for developing sport in the country. 

He said the school has an agreement with BNSC, BISA, BFA and BVF to reserve 30 spaces for Form Ones every year, adding the identified players came from all corners of the country with the bodies at liberty to identify them during the BOPSSA primary school’s championships.

He said the school has managed to achieve more as its teams have been able to qualify for BISA national championships on a yearly basis and some being able to attain medal positions.

He said the pupils have been performing well and winning trophies in all codes in line with the school’s motto of ‘living excellence.’

Motlhagodi said the school has been performing well albeit without the necessary equipment, adding that some of its products have made it to national leagues and national teams.

He said the level of indiscipline such as pregnancy, desertion and fence jumping has dropped due to the positive discipline expected and displayed by the athletes, which rubbed off on to the general school community.

He explained that there was a rise in self-esteem and pride among the pupils, teachers, other staff members and villagers because everyone wants to be associated with the great performance of the athletes.

Motlhagodi said they currently have an enrolment of 13 athletes, seven for volleyball and six for football all being Form Threes.

He lamented that the athletes eat imbalanced diet as the standard school menu does not cater for the needs of an athlete’s diet.

He requested for the school to be provided with a lawn, either natural or artificial soccer pitch and flood lights for training to take place in the evenings if necessary as the area was very hot. 

Motlhagodi said provision of a dietician to take care of athletes’ diet required attire and other materials could improve the welfare and play of the participants.

He appreciated the continuous efforts by government to introduce programmes geared towards improving and assisting the youth to unearth their talent to economically empower themselves.

He said his school was known for performing well in sport, especially football as some football luminaries, among them Kabelo Dambe are its products. ENDS