South wins swimming duel against North

Tapela Morapedi | Thursday March 23, 2017 12:17

The former mining town’s Kopano School were the hosts and the South scored 681 points to the North’s 636.

The annual tournament, held under the auspices of the Conference of Heads of Private Schools (CHOPS), was sponsored by Spar and Stanbic Bank. Competition was from Under-8 to 13. Broadhurst, Thornhill, Northside and Westwood International School, all from Gaborone represented the South while Kopano, Clifton from Francistown, Matshwane Primary School from Maun and Flamingo Private School from Sua Town carried the North’s hopes.

Kopano School’s head monitor girl, Neo Masake gave a moving speech about the host town on behalf of Kopano School head teacher, Nasim Miller. “Selebi-Phikwe is in a transition phase and it is our hope that some of you will see it in a better light after visiting it for this gala and realise what potential it has especially as a sporting venue,” she said.

She pointed out that Selebi-Phikwe is not a town in decline, but rather in a transition period towards a new economy through sport tourism. Selebi-Phikwe has good sporting facilities that could boost sport tourism and transform the local economy.

Apart from the swimming facilities, Selebi-Phikwe hosts the Softball Extravaganza, which is the biggest softball tournament in the country. The town also has a golf facility where major golf tournaments have been hosted over the years. Masake urged the young swimmers to do their all in the competitions.

“My only advise to you is, when your arms and legs get tired, swim with your heart.” Indeed the children swam their hearts out in a fiercely-contested competition before a fully packed Kopano swimming arena amid cheers from their supporters.

This year’s gala was dedicated to the late Kopano School’s Theo Maila who won silver last year. Maila who was champion swimmer and runner was described as a role model who inspired all Kopano students to achieve greatness. Maila died last year due to a heart condition.