With various sports codes gaining momentum to return to play in both local and international competitions likewise, the Botswana Tertiary Student Association (BOTESSA)are equally ready.
“BOTESSA athletes have an opportunity to participate in Confederations of Colleges and Universities Association (CUCSA) region 5 games, Africa Universities (FASU) games, and World University games to have an opportunity to qualify for bigger competitions like the Commonwealth games and the Olympic games,” said BOTESSA president Keorapetse Setlhare.
He noted that one of the challenges in developing athletes at institutions is that there are limited supply of sports equipment and shortage of sports facilities. Furthermore, most Botswana universities have no full-time sports officers and well-trained coaches to drill more athletes at institution level.
It is going to take a lot of hard work from both athletes and trainers to reach development goals of the country. The setback was influenced by no sporting activities in Botswana for almost two years because of the outbreak of Covid-19 which had hindered athlete development,” he said.
Meanwhile Setlhare has stated that there are developments in athlete scholarship programmes which are intended to contribute to the development and maintenance of the athletes.
In addition, he praised the scholarship in helping the national teams have better results during international competitions.
“This option to help athletes by offering scholarship will go a long way to demonstrate institutional commitment to social corporate responsibility to nurture athletes for their personal development. It will demonstrate an attitude of an advanced country which is capable to analyze the sport as an activity with social influence and positive values,” Setlhare observed.
The national teams’ feeder, Botswana Tertiary Student Association (BOTESSA) was formed with the vision of providing local tertiary students with a platform to exploit their sporting talents. BOTESSA is an affiliate of Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) and an associate member of Botswana National Olympics Committee (BNOC).
It is also an affiliate of Confederation of Universities & Colleges of Southern Africa (CUCSA) and International Federation of University Sports (FISU). through BOTESSA games under the theme “Developing the body and mind”.
