New Year, new beginnings, tough decisions have to be made

It’s that time of the year when many make New Year’s plans; some call them New Year’s resolutions. Whatever one calls them, many plan for the year ahead, setting goals and targets for themselves. The intention is to come as close as possible to achieving those set targets.

Sport is a result oriented business, and we should as a Nation treat is as such, especially at international level. We cannot forever participate in international competitions, but we should compete. I have since realised that we only compete in a few codes while in most other codes we just participate. That can only happen if we up our standards here at home. Over the years, we have seen that we can indeed compete with the best from other countries as we have talent in abundance. Our major undoing has been lack of proper management of that talent. If we are to make a mark in the international sport arena, we have to start by upping our standards here at home, and ensure prudent management of the talent and resources we have. The likes of Khaya Groth, Alister Walker, Amantle Montsho, Nijel Amos and Isaac Makwala amongst others, have shown that it is possible, if only we maximised on what we have.   As an emerging, aspirant sporting giant, we also need to host more international competitions. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the big name, mainstream sporting codes. If we do get a chance to host international competitions in Chess, Darts, dance sport and other not so popular sports, then we should go ahead and grab the chance. That will give us exposure and capacitate us to host even bigger events in the future. 

As the year begins, we cannot ignore the somewhat shoddy management that has dominated the headlines within some sporting codes. Undesirable as it is, it has persisted over the years. We cannot forever hope that it will disappear without much being done. The Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) needs to play a more active role and reign in some of its affiliates. There are some troublesome affiliates that have always been in the news for all the wrong reasons and to some extent bringing sport as a whole into disrepute. These affiliates, more especially the ‘troublesome’ administrators, need to be brought to book. We cannot continue to have Sport being dragged in the mud unnecessarily. I've heard of the challenges that our administrators face, moreso that in most cases it is on a voluntary basis, but it does not give one leeway to do as they please. Someone needs to start firing some people, if we are to move forward. We cannot forever be going round and round in circles. One or two gaffes can be forgiven, but it cannot be allowed to go without reproach.  At some point, people have to lose their positions if they are forever in the wrong and brining sport into disrepute.

Editor's Comment
Congratulations Anicia Gaothuse!

The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...

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