12 Aug 2019

Sport therapists are some of the most important personnel in every national football team set up.

In that regard, the Botswana Football Association (BFA), found it prudent to include a sport therapist in the senior women national football team’s training trip to Slovakia.

The therapist, Kamogelo Kelesiile, attends to all players who expreience knocks during training.

She also investigates the intensity of their injuries and where necessary she gives others a break, depending on the assessment.

Now the most interesting thing is how NTC Poprad Room One (where she lodges), is used as a scarecrow by the players because they fear her elbow, which she uses during the massage.

One of the players, Lesego Radiakanyo, is a victim of being silenced by other players as they threaten to send her to room one, whenever she is in a good mood.

As fate would have it, Radiakanyo sustained an ankle injury and therefore she had no choice of avoiding room one.

First on the massage bed was Kesego Mathatsa, who like all players failed to deal with Kem’s elbow and she was consistently reminded by Radiakanyo who was waiting by the side-line for her time, to remain calm and stop complaining.

“Nkamodira can you relax and let Kem do her work, can’t you see you are wasting other peoples time, they also have to be attended to,” said Radiakanyo.

Her turn then came and everything came to a standstill and the team manager, Dikeledi Ntshontsho had to be called to calm her down.

“Ah! Kem I want you to massage me in slow motion, I can’t handle your elbow, it is painful please, slow motion, dira ka motsamao o iketlileng, your elbow can only be handled by Joel Mogorosi,” she joked.

That time it was Mathatsa’s turn to laugh at her, it was now pay back time.

“Lesego, remain calm you are wasting other people’s time, and I am going to take you a video to show the rest of the team, how you jumped on the bed,” she said.

The rest of the team members continued to come one by one, but they could not handle the magic elbow, but at the end of the massage they all praised Kem for a job well done.

The captain, Bonang Otlhagile also had her share, but as the leader, she had to lead by example, to remain calm, but alas that was not the case.

Like others, the moment elbow landed on her body, she started yelling, until the end of the session.

Out of frustration, she instructed that this reporter should also be massaged and she obliged albeit to the disappointment of the team because there was no wailing.

However, Kelesiile said in an interview that she started volunteering in different national teams in 2011, upon her arrival from United Kingdom where she studied sport therapy.

She said sport therapy was broad.

 “It includes sport massage, treatment of injuries, rehabilitation and applying first aid during training or a game.”

Kelesiile noted that she was aware that players failed to handle her elbow, but during the session, she always encouraged them to remain calm because her main intention was not to inflict pain on their injuries but to help them regain mobility and improve their health and fitness.

Kelesiile used her elbow to reach tight back muscles, hips and fibrous tissues, saying they were always hard to reach. ENDS