03 Oct 2019

Jwaneng-based Itekeng Volleyball Club has organised a tournament in the mining town this weekend.

Speaking in an interview,  the club’s publicity officer, Tsholofelo Nkokobocho, said dormancy of the national volleyball league  affected the players’ morale.

She added that the weekend tournament would be an effort to keep players fit.

“Players do not find the logic of coming to training daily when there are no games to be played, and this affects the image of volleyball and performance of the national teams that nevertheless continue to get international invitations,” she said.

She said the mother body assured them that it was working around the clock to secure sponsors for the league, but that would only be for next season and that Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) had encouraged clubs to keep players busy through friendly tournaments.

She said it was in that light that her club found it fit to organise a friendly tournament this weekend that will feature four teams as a way of addressing the thirst of volleyball lovers.

The tournament would feature four teams: Itekeng, Police VI, BDF VI and Prisons VI.

“Each team, safe for Prisons VI will bring booth male and female teams, and the sole intention of the tournament is to keep the players active in the absence of the (BVF) league,” she said.

Nkokobocho also indicated that the games would be played in a round-robin format to ensure that each team would play as many games as possible.

“Each team will take care of its players. We don’t have the sponsor for this tournament and that is the reason we invited teams from Gaborone because they would be able to transport themselves and would not need accommodation, hence cutting off any costs,” she said.

She said the tournament was a first and that they were planning another one for the first week of December which they hoped would have sponsorship, but said that should they fail to secure sponsorships, each participating team would have to contribute.

Meanwhile, Nkokobocho said her club had organised a blood donation event in conjunction with the National Blood Transfusion Centre that would take place in Jwaneng in front of the Standard Chartered Bank.

She said the event was part of their corporate social responsibility and that they had invited other sporting codes in Jwaneng.

She said the event started last year where they managed to donate 43 pints of blood and that this year their target was to raise 60 pints.

Nkokobocho therefore encouraged the community to come in large numbers to support the noble cause. 

The games kick off  on Saturday from 8am till late. ENDS