Thursday, February 13, 2025

Hard Lessons for Botswana at WBSC Women Softball World Championships

Given a chance to shine at the 2018 Women’s Softball World Championships, Botswana’s women team seems to be in disarray as they are losing their scheduled games.

The team manager Same Molete is optimistic that it has been a learning curve for the ladies and is taking the losses as stepping stones to know what to work on next time.

“The team has learnt a lot, from what type of pitches to throw, how to behave as a batter as well as correct batting mechanisms,” Molete said.

Asked on the average age of the team, Molete had this to say “the average age of the team is 25, young and vibrant.”

Commenting on the experience gained by athletes from the games, Molete said the team will greatly benefit in terms of overall preparations for they are billed for Olympic Qualifiers soon. She said, “This will help in assessing where we rank as a country in terms of playing against the best in the world. This will also assist us in having a baseline on which areas need to be attended to.”

Molete further highlighted that some players have reached the peak of their softball career. “We need to discipline them so that they can be easy to manage and coach; some players are at infancy of their playing career and will be beneficial to the long term development of Botswana Softball,” she added.

Furthermore, the team manager says they have a retaining plan for the players once they get back from Japan, such that they keep the team intact and fit.

“From here the plan is to have monthly scheduled camps, and also rope in some new faces in order to improve the deficiency of the team. Our eyes are set on the Olympic games, we need to prepare early,” she added.

The mood at the camp of the players is said to be of sombre attitude. “There is also a learning attitude and willingness to make a difference that prevails in them,” said Molete.

Botswana women’s team made its last appearance at the World Cup that was held in Holland in 2014.

The team has lost against Japan, Venezuela, Italy and Australia scoring nil in the games respectively. The team is to play Great Britain, China and Canada.

This is the 16th edition of the tournament, and the third edition to be sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).

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