25 Nov 2020

Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) president, Daniel Molaodi says he will work hard to realise his dream of seeing Southern Africa being prominent in commissions that run volleyball.

In an interview, Molaodi, who was recently elected into the Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) board of administration, indicated that it was vital for volleyball growth at national and regional level, to have representatives in commissions such as referees, coaches, finance and many others.

“My goal is to open up avenues for African representatives to be part of these commissions,” he added.

He highlighted that being elected into FIVB as a representative of Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB), meant that he would not be only representing Botswana but Africa as a whole.

Therefore, in terms of how Botswana would benefit from his new position, Molaodi said it would be in line with what all other African countries would benefit. However, he said it could be an advantage to BVF in terms of knowing the direction of FIVB and strategically aligning Botswana’s plans.

He indicated that another critical issue for him was about quality and growth of local and regional games, adding that national federations in the world were divided into five categories.  

He highlighted that category four and five were the top volleyball nations, while three was middle status, two and one were the lowest.

Molaodi further noted that no African country was in category four or five, which was a sign that a lot had to be done to improve the quality of game in Africa.

Top African volleyball teams, he said were in category three.

Molaodi also said he would advocate for coaches to be sent to national federations for a longer period, citing a coach who was sent to Botswana for only three months.

“Three months is not enough for development,” he added.

For his part, BVF vice president Administration, Ndibo Lebala said during CAVB’s elective congress, held October 24 to 25 this year, three candidates had to be elected to represent Africa at Federation of International Volleyball.

He indicated that there were four candidates in the race and Ivory Coast pulled out, leaving Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria, which all went on to represent CAVB at FIVB.

Lebala said Molaodi was nominated by Zone VI, comprising Southern African countries.

He said Zone VI went for elective congress well prepared, having got into an arrangement with Zone VII to support each other.This, he said came after two zones realised that they were not represented in CAVB board of administration for a long time.Lebala said the marriage also resulted in Zone VI winning two seats in Gender Minority, which were competed for by three countries.

He added that the seats were then won by Lesotho and Zambia, beating Ugandan representative.

Zone V11 also managed to win CAVB presidency, Bouhra Hajij from Morocco.

Lebala further said knowledge of good governance by their candidates also gave them an upper hand. ENDS