03 Jun 2021

Botswana Tertiary Student Sport Association (BOTESSA) will tomorrowy hosts leadership training for athletes with disability.

In an interview on Wednesday, Special Olympics Botswana athlete leadership programmes officer, Fire Mogotsi, said the workshop would impart athletes with leadership skills.

He highlighted that the idea was for the athletes to use such skills to assume leadership roles in sports and organisations.

Mogotsi further explained that they wanted to bridge the gap between those with disabilities and without disabilities.

He said about 30 participants would partake in the training, including four youth leaders from Special Olympics Botswana, adding that there would be 19 female athletes 11 male.

The training, he said, would in the near future be rolled out to all BOTESSA regions in order to reach more educable athletes.

He urged all athletes with disability to continue being dedicated to the Organisation and determined in whatever they do.

Mogotsi thanked Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for its continued support especially through transporting athletes to games, however he indicated that there was room for improvement as available funding does not cover all their needs.     

He highlighted that there was limited resources in terms of infrastructure such as equipped grounds for their different sporting codes, adding that their coaches were not rewarded for services offered.Pertaining to growth of their different codes, Mogotsi indicated that there was light at the end of the tunnel, as they have in recent years registered more athletes, volunteers and the support was growing from families.

He indicated that they were able to take their athletes to world games held every two years.

Mogotsi explained that they had partnered with different stakeholders including some of Botswana National Sport Commission affiliates to train athletes and coaches, with the aim to increase the number of their sporting codes.

Health of our athletes, he said was the number one priority as they screened them for various health ills for free and provided services recommended from screening such as eye glasses for free.

He urged individuals and different organisations to support them in any way possible so that the gap between athletes with disability and without disability could be bridged.“Disability is not inability, through your guidance and support people with disabilities can be good contributors to the society,” he added. ENDS