Federations should focus on the role of enhanced and adequate training facilities for the development of sports in the country Isaiah Ramontshonyana has said.
He said for some clubs, it’s a bitter sweet moment because they train at government school premises however the teams have unlimited time to train.In an interview, Ramontshonyana said his team, Galaletsang Primary School Karate Club is struggling with finding perfect indoor training facilities to conduct its trainings. He added that Botswana Karate Association (BoKA) assist with development finances but the funds are not enough to cover the team’s budget.”The funds from BoKA are never enough, because the team struggles more with finances to reach out to rural areas where there is cream” He noted.
He explained that the team uses school classes to train which is small and can only be accessed after school hours or else there is no training. He noted that athletes train once a week saying it is not enough to build their fitness and skills.”Alternatives places means rented places which is impossible to rent a place because I train these students for free so there is no how I can afford to pay for a rented space,” Ramontshonyana said.
On his part Alfred Madome (don’t use this name) said his club had stopped its training since they have no facility to train at.He explained that the team and the school that he used to train his athletes at failed to reach an agreement from the rising issues that were bought forward. Madome explained that they have tried to apply for affiliation from the Botswana Taekwondo Federation since 2018 but up to know they have not been accepted.
He observed that the club did not request any help from the federation because they feel neglected by BTF. He added that therefore the club is strategising on finding funds and venue for training the athletes.MTC requested for affiliation in 2018 with all the necessary documents needed by BTF but even today the club is not affiliated.
