Canadian Coach Set For Cheerleading Conference

Kabelo Boranabi | Monday November 26, 2018 13:43

Speaking to The Monitor Sport, BCF secretary general, Tony Petros said McLeod would conduct a three-day training course in the country aiming at improving the technical and tactical ability of both the athletes and coaches.

“This will be coaching workshops aimed at improving the skills of the athletes and coaches. The participants will also learn about the rules and regulations of the sport. 

“The workshop will resume November 29 and will run until December 1, 2018 at Super Fit gym in Gaborone.  On the first day we will have an interaction with the participants.

“On November 30, the coach will look at the techniques and tactics used in the sport, while on December 1 we will focus on the choreography sessions,” he said.

Petros said cheerleading is a new sport in the country and McLeod’s expertise will help in growing the sport technically and tactically whilst raising its awareness.

However, he said the federation is faced with challenges ahead of the McLeod’s trip with a minimal number of registrations at the time of press.

“McLeod is an elite coach.  He has mentored a number leading cheer clubs in his native Canada and other countries.

“Fortunately though he does his workshops for a fee. He has, however, agreed to visit us free of charge. For this reason we are looking to partner with him for events like this in the future.”

“Cheerleading is relatively unknown in Botswana so it is hard to get partners and sponsors out there. We do not have an exact number of participants at the moment, but we are expecting around 50 coaches.

“Currently, we have only 12 accredited coaches in the country, mostly from private schools so we want to broaden our scope,” Petros said.

McLeod is currently one of the trainers at the Cheer Factory in Canada and has worked in both Canada and the US for most of his career.  BCF is the newest kid-in-the-block in the country’s sporting federations. The federation has 10 affiliated clubs in the country.