Volleyball could lose out on relief fund
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday May 29, 2020 13:53
The Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development has opened applications for professional athletes to submit names in order to benefit from the fund.
Botswana Volleyball Association vice president, George Keotsenye said they have submitted names of the players, but are unsure whether they qualify.
He said the challenge is that most of the players do not have contracts with their clubs. There has been no volleyball league action for the second season running, with only national teams active.
“Players do not have contracts, however clubs assist them in different ways. If the Sport Relief Fund guidelines exclude tertiary institutions students then it means we would have more players excluded and that means more pressure on the clubs. They would continue forking out more to assist their players,” he said.
Boitshoko Tsiane of Botswana Rugby Union said they have submitted names of seven players to be assisted under the programme.
When asked how the seven were selected, Tsiane said the clubs were responsible for the selection, and chose players who are reliant on rugby for income.
Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) president, Tshepho Bathai said they have submitted names but left out Ofentse Bakwadi and Entle Maungwa.
He said the duo have been excluded from the relief programme because they are already benefiting from Olympic Solidarity Fund. He said BOKA has submitted close to 100 names.
Botswana Softball Association (BSA) vice president, Gontlafetse Batsetswe said they are still waiting for clubs to submit names. He also said the BSA executive committee would vet the names after submissions have been made.
The deadline for submission is June 4 after being moved from May 28.
“We have realised that a few clubs have shown interest in the programme because some of them do not have proper systems in place, so they are struggling to find information that is needed in the application forms. The ministry has set a maximum number of 25 for football clubs so at softball each club should submit 17 names,” he said.