11 Sep 2023

Botswana Football Association (BFA) has been hailed for its commitment to revive schools of excellence across the country in a bid to develop football at grassroots level.

Nhabe Regional Football Association youth coordinator, Tebogo Mogaetsho revealed in an interview that the schools of excellence were a welcome development as they could help unearth talent at youth level, nurture and develop it to produce stars in the football atmosphere.

He said he wished BFA could also establish a school of excellence in Nhabe region considering that there was a lot of talent that needed to be developed.

Such facility, he said could help players focus on sport for their future livelihood.

“We wish we could have one either in Maun or Okavango where we can keep our players in one spot for easy training and monitoring. We however appreciate that there is Re ba bona ha centre in Maun which is doing well and another one in Shakawe,” he added.

Mogaetsho called for BFA to consider establishing another Re ba bona ha centre in Gumare saying that would attract more youngsters to showcase their talents and upscale their skills as far as grassroots football was concerned.

As such, he proposed that Maun Senior Secondary School could be considered as a centre of excellence citing that as sports persons, they could be able to scout for players who showed excellence in sports and send them to school of excellence for further training.

Meanwhile, Mogaetsho had also expressed gratitude that about 14 football players from Nhabe region had been selected for schools of excellence following the just ended Bonnita Youth Football Championship Finals held in Gaborone recently.

Sponsored by Bonnita to the tune of P800 000, the event, he said was played in blocks comprising of Southern, Western, Eastern and Northern blocks respectively and attracted a total of 228 players on equal ratio for boys and girls to participate.

Nhabe, which falls under the Northern Block, was represented by 27 players from both Maun and Okavango district and Mogaetsho revealed that the Northern block got position one under 15 boys category and won a trophy and gold medals while in under 17 boys and girls category, the block clinched position three. 

“It is impressing as players have done exceptionally well at the finals.

Our region was well represented by five players and a coach in Under 15 boys team and Under 17 boys team,” he said.

Mogaetsho said the selected players would be placed in centres of excellence across the country to train with qualified coaches and eventually be part of the national team structures in the near future.

However, Nhabe region had contributed significantly to the growth of sport in the country as talented athletes were unearthed from the region in the likes of Ruri Ramokolodi, Leungo Scotch, Gabriel Garenamotse and Amantle Montsho among others.

In football, the region has produced players who played in the national team in the likes of Omaatla Kebatho and Thero Setsile among others. Ends