Foreign coach targeted for 2017 netball team
Kabelo Boranabi | Thursday December 3, 2015 15:12
Chairperson of the tournamennt’s Local Organising Committee (LOC), Prisca Mokgadi said the national team will secure an international coach to work with the team.
Speaking at the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) annual general meeting this week, Mokgadi said although the BNOC has approved their request to secure a coach, they have not identified a candidate as yet. “This is a world class event, so we need world class expertise to come and work with our national team as we will love to perform better as the host nation,” she said.
Mokgadi further said they want to leave a lasting legacy. She has the idea is to promote the development of the sport rather than focusing on making profits. “The development of the sport is our priority. Of course the business and tourism sector will benefit from the competition, but our focus is mainly to develop the sport from grassroots level.”
Mokgadi revealed the LOC intends to build a sporting facility that can be used by all sporting codes. “The LOC wishes to have its own infrastructure that will not be used by netball (only), but for all the codes. We had hoped that the UB Indoor Sporting facility would host two courts; unfortunately we only have one court at the facility. We need to get another facility that has a sprung floor, as per the international standard requirements,” she said.
BNOC chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho told the gathering the LOC will be allocated P1.7 million to prepare for the games. “I would like to congratulate BONA for winning the bid to host the cup. It is the first of its magnitude in the country and for that we can do whatever it takes to help them host a successful event,” he said.
A total of 70 games will be played over a period of nine days from July 8 to July 16 2017 with 20 countries participating.