Softball marches on against all odds
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday October 8, 2022 06:00
Softball's attention has now shifted to coming up with a plan on how to start the league.
During the current season, more than P2 million was spent on softball competitions, with P700,000 going to the return-to-play mini-league, while P300,000 was spent on the Phikwe Extravaganza and P250,000 on the Independence tournament.
The BSA spent around P500,000 on the senior men’s national team during the Africa World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) World Cup qualifiers. Teams' overall expenditure has exceeded P4 million, which puts softball's spending to around P6 million. A further P5 million was spent on the sale of equipment, use of transport, accommodation and feeding.
This is a glimpse of how much money circulated in softball in nine months. Over the Independence holiday, softball clubs converged in Gaborone for the Archeine Hardware softball tournament. Some clubs complained that the prize money was insufficient but that did not dampen spirits. Some teams, especially from the Northern zone, threatened to boycott the tournament because of the high costs of preparations.
The Indian High Commission awarded five scholarships to five players, who were presented with opportunities to study in the Asian country. During the tournament, Police IX women emerged victorious, defeating BDF IX.
On the men’s side, BDF IX picked revenge against Police IX to be crowned champions. The BSA president, Katlholo Mosimanegape said normally this time (October) they will be starting a season that ends in May but because of the COVID-19 situation, they had to focus on return-to-play. “We kicked off the year with a return to play mini-league, which ended in May with championships that were played in Selebi-Phikwe. After a short break, we went for the Phikwe Extravaganza.
From there, we started preparations for the Independence tournament. I feel this was a busy year for us,” he said. Mosimanegape said there were some challenges, especially when it came to picking momentum to have competitive softball activities. He said the activities needed funding and companies were not ready to sponsor as they were also emerging from the effects of COVID-19. “Other than organising tournaments, we are still running around looking for the league sponsor.
It has not been easy, some companies keep promising but nothing has come forth yet,” he said. Mosimanegape said Botswana has submitted a bid to host the Africa WBSC women’s qualifiers next year.
He said two African teams that emerge as the winners in the qualifiers, will proceed to play against European opposition. “Qualification call has been made that the continental qualifiers should be held in February. We have made a virtual presentation on the qualifiers. We are competing against Uganda so we are waiting for the response from WBSC,” he said.
On the issue of concerns raised by teams from the north, Mosimanegape said they are aware of the complaints. He said the main issue that makes it difficult for teams to have enough game time is the distance between playing venues. “The teams are spread all over, some are in Phikwe, Francistown, Serowe, Sua and Mahalapye and travelling is costly.
That is why they are grouped in one area and play a number of games. These are some of the issues that we will discuss at the Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) in November,” he said. Clubs reacted differently to the unfolding season. Wells public relations officer, Segolame Raesima said it was a bad season for softball, especially when considering prize money for the Independence tournament. "The tournament was sponsored with P250,000 and BSA took part of the money to buy merchandise.
Then you wonder what happened to gate takings and team registration fees. Our sport is deteriorating and we are playing for the love of the game. The prize money was less than what teams spent during preparations. Our leadership should have kept the P250,000 and looked for another sponsorship so that we have better prize monies.
We had a busy season just to keep us busy. We need a fully sponsored league and to be fair with you, BoFINET should come back," she said. BDF coach, Tapologo Moremedi had different views and said the season has been exciting. "The season went well and the just-ended tournament was exciting. The challenge we had was late notification of the fixtures. BDF proved that they are a strong side and at the beginning of the season I took Jury Manaka as my understudy," Moremedi said. Carats spokesperson, Phologo Lebopo said there has been progress.
"We cannot complain because softball has just returned. Our leadership did a good job of getting us back into action. Clubs received grants from the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) through BSA.
We are coming from a difficult period of COVID-19. Moving forward sponsorship should cover preparation costs before dealing with prize monies," he said. "Despite all the positives we saw, as Northern Zone teams we continue to struggle. This is due to the structure that is being used. Teams can play for three weekends and wait for the championship, which will come after three months. When they arrive, they lack game time. As Carats we normally lose our first games but we pick up momentum as games continue.
We should change our play structure, introduce three-way fixtures, whereby teams play against each other three times," Lebopo said. Police women's team coach, Phibion Tawina said it has been a challenging season. "We started with a return- to-play mini-league, which was meant to resuscitate the players after a long break. When we played the mini-league you could tell that the players were still rusty.
Some teams were determined, the likes of the Titans. We won the mini-league. The next activity was the Phikwe Extravaganza, which we lost to Titans, and I told my players that we lose to learn. We were not going to let ourselves be a laughingstock. I had to shift things around ahead of the Independence tournament hence we won all our games. BDF was a surprise package in the final and Titans was unfortunate.
You could tell during the tournament that softball is getting back in shape. Sometimes we should appreciate other things like spectators and our leadership for pushing us," he said. "As the senior team coach, the team will be coming for trials to prepare for the WBSC African women’s qualifiers in February. I want preparations to start on time. When you do things last minute, you end up bypassing other things," Tawina added.