New brooms take over northern softball
Koketso Kgoboge | Wednesday May 20, 2015 10:41
Oeme Morupisi was voted the new general manager, taking over from Justus Juswane, while Same Molete, who was previously the treasurer, took over as the new secretary taking over from Molatedi Manyapeza.
Shatisani July replaced Molete as the new treasurer, while Romeo Tshelametsi was elected Youth Development Officer and Kebadumetse Osupile the new Deputy Umpire-in-Chief.
Mooketsi Kopanang was the sole member of the old committee to retain his position, being the grounds manager.
Newly elected general manager, Morupisi, told delegates at the AGM that his intention has always been to develop and grow softball in the north.
He revealed that he has been involved in different positions in the sport in the past years.
“Currently, I am the manager of Comets Softball Club and I have been involved in the Selebi-Phikwe Technical College school softball club, which has been doing very well in the past years. “I was also a coordinator of softball at BOTESSA,” he said.
Going forward, Morupisi said he plans to improve on the shortfalls of the past committee, which he said were mainly caused by lack of communication.
He also said regional teams’ performances had been deteriorating in the past and the new committee planned to improve this.
“We need to improve communication between the affiliates and the executive committee. “Whether good or bad, the affiliates must get feedback in everything that the executive committee embarks on.
“The past committee never gave affiliates any feedback on their initiatives and developments they discussed or received from the Botswana Softball Association ever since we voted them in 2013.
“This suffocated the clubs in our zone,” he said.
The new general manager said the region was facing a “serious” challenge of sponsorship and the association needed to approach funders as a bloc as individual clubs could scarcely attract support by themselves.
“We understand it is hard for individual clubs to attain sponsorship for themselves. That is why as the new committee, we plan to raise funds through tournaments and share with those clubs that are facing these challenges so that we can keep them afloat and maintain their involvement in the game,” he said.