29 Jun 2026

Every time the athletics sensation, Collen Kebinatshipi blazes down the track, leaving the world’s elite in his wake, a quiet schoolteacher somewhere in the background is likely smiling and intentionally stepping back into the shadows.

Meet Chilume Ntshwarang. To the roaring crowds and the tightly knit athletics community, he is simply ‘Chippa’ or ‘Mchipos.’

He is the technical mastermind behind some of the country’s most electric track talent, but tracking him down for an interview is nearly as difficult as catching his athletes on a straightaway.

Fiercely media-shy, Chippa is a man who strictly lets the stopwatch and the blistering track results do the talking.

His journey into athletics began over two decades ago, back in 2004.

Introduced to the sport by Innocent Sibanda in the mining town of Jwaneng, Chippa did not start with elite and polished superstars.

He started at the absolute grassroots, working with raw and wide-eyed junior athletes.

Alongside Sibanda, he began moulding talent from the ground up, producing household names like Leungo Matlhaku and Thapelo Ketlogetswe before life, as it often does for teachers, called him away from the diamond town.

For Chippa, coaching has never just been a whistle and a clipboard but a lifestyle of thoughtful mentorship. When his teaching profession transferred him to Kanye, he crossed paths with the gifted athletic twins, Tsaone and Ditiro Sebele. It was here that his true character as a developmental anchor shone brightest. He did not just train Ditiro but he took him in.

“I stayed with Ditiro at my house until he moved to Gaborone and found a suitable job where he is today,” Chippa shares softly, brushing off what many would consider an extraordinary act of kindness as just part of the job.

It is that exact eye for potential and willingness to nurture the human being, not just the athlete, that led him to a young Form 2 learner at Mookami Junior Secondary School in 2019.

That boy was Collen Kebinatshipi.

Under Chippa’s patient guidance, a schoolboy’s raw speed was meticulously converted into elite high-performance power, culminating in a meteoric rise that has captivated international athletics.

While Chippa has steadily climbed the global ranks to become one of the country’s most highly qualified technical minds, holding a World Athletics Level 1 Lecturer certificate and an Academy Diploma, his training camp remains grounded in family and patience.

Kebinatshipi may be the marquee name, but Chippa’s stable is teeming with the future of the nation’s track glory.

Among them is Bhekimpilo Eppie, who recently turned heads by fighting his way into the World Championships finals.

Yet, Chippa is overly protective of his athletes’ timelines, quietly confident that Eppie will become a global force.

“The nation should remain patient,” he counsels, emphasising the steady brewing process required to make a world-beater.

Today, his elite training group has grown into a veritable powerhouse, a sanctuary for the country’s next generation of speed including Lefatshe Seleka, Same Mhutsiwa, Godirwang Lobatlamang, recent addition Prince Selepe and veteran athlete, Boitumelo Masilo.

In a sport world dominated by loud personalities and flash, Chippa remains a beautiful anomaly, a teacher by day, a saviour to aspiring dreamers by night and the quiet architect keeping the country’s golden athletic future in incredibly safe hands. ends