27 Nov 2019

Botswana Softball Association (BSA) recently hosted a three-day coaching clinic to equip and educate coaches about pitching and catching skills.

In an interview, sports development officer from BSA, Tebogo Johannes explained that the coaching clinic attracted coaches from some satellite schools in Maun.

He said through support from the Re Ba Bona Ha programme, they selected coaches from primary schools such as Matlapana, Shashe, Matlala as well as Boyei to drill and empower them on coaching skills.  

Catching and pitching, he said, were some of the most important skills in softball, adding that he believed that at the end of the coaching clinic, coaches would be able to transfer the knowledge and skills to their teams. 

Johannes also indicated that they had chosen coaches from primary school level because it was important to teach children sporting skills at a young age.

He said they would visit the schools to ensure that the coaches implemented what they had acquired from the training.

In addition, he said coaches would be expected to produce reports regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the pupils in order to evaluate their performance. 

Re Ba Bona Ha softball coordinator, Kabelo Potedi said there were 125 athletes under the programme, which was meant to groom children at the grassroots level as well as to remove them from the streets. He believed that the coaches would positively impact the pupils’ performance.

One of the coaches from Shashe Primary School, Kgopiso Kopano assured the facilitators that they would apply the skills and knowledge they acquired from the coaching clinic. In addition, he said they would organise competitions to gauge players’ performance.

Kopano also expressed concern about lack of sponsorships in their competitions, stressing that they were unable to host more due to financial constraints. Ends