Local hockey resurrects
Tumelo Mouwane | Tuesday March 24, 2015 11:20
The Open tournament featured eight teams, with some from as far as Maun.
Okavango International School Hockey Club, Jwaneng Hockey, Vikings, Romans, Persians, Kids Academy and University of Botswana Hockey Club, which had two teams, all took part.
The tournament was fun-filled with a series of games all day. Persians proved their mettle with a 6-3 win over Okavango in the first game of the day after an exhibition match.
The exhibition match featured UB Hockey Club and Jwaneng.
The Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) treasurer, Boitshoko Tsiane said the visibility of BHA has declined tremendously over the years.
“I think that should date back to 2008. This has been as a result of leadership and management challenges that BHA experienced as a sporting code,” Tsiane said.
He said it is in their interest as BNSC to see Hockey grow and take a prominent position amongst other growing sport codes.
BHA board chairman, Unaswi Matebu admitted the organisation has been going through administration challenges for the past few years.
“Our problems date back to 2008 when the then BHA executive derailed from the initial plan. They lost touch with schools, more especially government schools.
“There was a gap between private and public schools, but the two needed to come together in order to yield good results of developing hockey among students from a young age,” said Matebu.
Matebu added that the problems became more compounded when the committee resigned. “They came in with higher expectations. The chairperson resigned because he failed to bring the members of the board together,” Matebu said.
He said they currently have no sponsors, but the BNSC is helping them with some of the resources.