Northern schools dominate ISSSA championships

Calistus Kolantsho | Monday March 18, 2024 15:15

800m Under-17 boys during the Independent Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSSA) athletics competitions held in Lobatse on Saturday PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO

The competitions were held here over the weekend. Despite the high temperatures and bees attack, athletes from the two schools rose to the occasion smashing a few ISSSA records.

The schools were divided into Group A and Group B. John Mackenzie won group B while Mophato are the champions for group A. Anesu Chipandu won the Under-19 boys 100m dash with convincing 10.10 seconds setting a new ISSSA record. Chipandu told SportMonitor that the race was tough and that his opponents gave him tough competition.

He also said his wish is to become a professional sprinter in the near future. Meanwhile, ISSSA chairperson, Alleck Maphosa, said despite the challenges posed by the heat wave and bees attack, the competition was successful. He stated that the number of records is a testimony of hard work that coaches and athletes are putting in towards the development of athletics.

“There is so much work being put in by schools, coaches and parents who all want to see athletes shining on the track. You should be aware that we are the only group that has school sport running for the past five years including pre-COVID-19 era,” he said. Sport Monitor observed that officials timed the event using stop watches and cellular phones instead of the electronic timing system. Maphosa explained that electronic timing system is expensive. He said in the past two editions of the championships, they managed to use the system hired from Botswana Athletics Association (BAA).

He said unfortunately that was not possible as BAA has hiked the lending prices, and as such they felt the increase was unreasonable. “We felt the hike to the fees was unreasonable but we will continue to try and engage BAA again as we feel we are an integral part of grassroots athletes’ development, which they should help,” he said. Maphosa said ISSSA has partnered with North West University (NWU) from South Africa for sport development. He said the partnership seeks to open a pathway to both athletes and coaches. “We all know that NWU has some of the best sporting infrastructure in Africa.

This will see our excelling athletes from all sporting codes being afforded a chance to study at NWU and our coaches going there to get training or NWU sending personnel here to train our coaches. This will greatly enhance the quality of our sporting product,” Maphosa said. Mophato coach, Vusa Moyo, said being the champions is a proud moment for all the Mophato family.

“A victory to savour for several reasons; first the dedication and mental strength shown by our team to hold out stiff competition to win a tight contest, and the fact that we have managed to successfully defend the two titles we won last year amongst other reasons. We are excited by the achievement because it is testament to the hard work, discipline and hunger to win shown by every member of the Mophato family,” Moyo said.