14 Oct 2024

Following the success of the initial rollout plan of the football coaching clinic sessions across the country, plans are underway to target more areas in next year’s itinerary.

A collaborative initiative between Footballers Union of Botswana (FUB) and Engen, the coaching clinic is intended to nurture and develop football from grassroots level, while at the same time, building wholesome, disciplined children aged between 5 and 13 years.

In an interview with BOPA on the sidelines of the last coaching clinic of the year held in Jwaneng on Saturday, FUB vice president and grassroots development coordinator, Lesego Molemogi said due to good turn up in various areas they have visited since they started, they were planning to reach more children as they continued to roll-out the programme next year.

He said over 150 children participated in their inaugural session held in Gaborone last year, and this year 170 and 300 participants were recorded in Palapye and Selebi Phikwe respectively, while Jwaneng recorded the second best turnout of over 200. 

The Jwaneng session attracted boys and girls from Jwaneng and its outskirts such as Sese and Kaduwe among others.

“Given these numbers, we are in discussions with our main sponsor, Engen, on how we can grow this programme to reach more children across the country next year, even rural areas,” he noted.. 

He said they are also looking for other partners since a lot of people love this programme and realize its potential to develop football. 

“We want to go all out and target rural areas where the talent is as we realise that their talent is  mostly discovered late,” he explained.

Molemogi said since this was their legacy programme through which they give back to the communities, they strive to inspire young people through a platform to interact with football legends.

Jwaneng Galaxy development coach, Boriba Segobye appreciated the good turnout, which he said would contribute towards growing football in the region and feeding the local teams in various leagues. 

He said the numbers indicated that communities have embraced grassroots development hence there was need to keep children active.

However, he underscored the need for active centres in various villages in the area to avoid overcrowding in one place, which ultimately hampered the overall objective and effectiveness of the development programme. Ends