Softball clubs step up COVID-19 compliance

Calistus Kolantsho | Friday July 31, 2020 12:27

 

Softball clubs step up COVID-19 compliance

Some of the clubs that have managed to upgrade their fields are Carats, Bears, Comets and Ghetto Yankees.

Carats spokesperson, Phologo Lebopo told Mmegi Sport their field is ready for action. He said the club funded the upgrades.

 We have resumed training but it is more concentrated on conditioning drills, skill building and we make sure that there is limited close contact to a specified number of minutes during simulation drills and scrimmages,  he said.

Carats spent P7,000 on the upgrades and bought extra bats, gloves, balls and helmets at a cost of P20,000. The club now has 27 bats, 30 gloves, 15 helmets and 60 balls. Lebopo said they were in the process of acquiring equipment before the national lockdown.

“We have two teams so we did not want either one of them to suffer if men and women games clash. There is another shipment to arrive next week,” Lebopo said.

He said the National Diamond has been inspected by the Debswana sport COVID-19 committee and Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) COVID-19 committee.

“We are still waiting to hear from BSA regarding the commencement of the league.

They had communicated that it would start in the second week of August, but without a clear date,” Lebopo said.

Comets manager, Oeme Morupisi said their field is also ready for action. He said they have requested for permission to start training.

“We have upgraded the Mowana ball park at Area Two. Fortunately, the field already had water so we only installed washing basins, sanitisers and thermometers,” he said.

For her part, Panthers manager, Lesedi Tombale said their field was inspected for compliance on Wednesday.

Tombale said the process went well but there were other issues that were raised such as setting up an isolation area and marking the field for distancing.

“I cannot say how much we spent on the upgrades because it was all about buying sanitisers, water buckets and soap. We also had to engage a SHE officer. We are still waiting for BNSC to assist us with funding to buy equipment,” she said.

Meanwhile, BSA vice president, Batsetswe Gontlafetse said the dates for resuming the league remain unclear as most of the clubs are not ready.

He said the BSA is also still soliciting funds from BNSC to upgrade the National Diamond.