12 Aug 2019

Selbys Uniform shop in Maun has injected P20 000 towards a soccer tournament aimed to keep youngsters out of the streets and to identify a team that will represent North West District at the upcoming Botswana Games slated for December.

The tournament attracted eight schools in Maun region, which comprised of five junior secondary schools in Maun, Ngami Junior Secondary School from Sehithwa, Makalamabedi Junior School and Maun Senior Secondary School.

The tournament was organised by sub-zone D.

In an interview, tournament coordinator, Oarabile Batang said the tournament aimed to groom boys and see them playing for big clubs and the national team.

He said they also wanted students to balance sport and academics as well as to solidify a team that would represent the region at the Botswana Games.

He encouraged parents, business community and leadership to come on board and support the initiatives as it would grow football and also sell the district brand.

Batang thanked Selbys for the good gesture in investing in youngsters and hoped that would motivate other potential sponsors to play a role in development of sport in the district.

Meanwhile, Maun Senior Secondary School was crowned tournament champions and walked away with P5 000, a trophy and gold medals while Tsodilo and Ngami junior secondary schools, which came second and third positions, took home a silver medal, P3 000, bronze and P2 000 respectively.

Ngami school scooped individual awards, with Rapula Moxa winning top goal scorer award.

 Batlwaetse Rebatho won best goalkeeper award while the team were awarded a fair play award for good conduct in the pitch while Thabo Morapedi of Maun senior school scooped player of the tournament award.

The sponsor, Noeline Ndaba thanked the organisers and promised them to increase the sponsorship next year.

She said she wanted the tournament to be extended to other sub zones such as Okavango and to include women football.

She explained that Selbys had been operating in Maun for 19 years and as part of corporate social responsibility, they had assisted schools with some of their needs.

This year, she said they had decided to sponsor a football tournament. Ndaba also expressed gratitude to players whose performance she said was amazing as some proved that it was not all about age, but about skill also.

Principal education officer, Michael Medupe said it was pleasing to see citizen-owned companies contributing to the growth of sports.

He said Botswana was facing a challenge of substance abuse.

He added that initiatives such as football tournament, were ideal to address some of the issues bedevelling youth.

The initiatives, he said kept youngsters busy, interact with each other and wished it could be extended to other sporting codes even beyond the region.

He commended sport masters and teachers for always rallying behind sport initiatives. ENDS