Karate lays out elaborate plan
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday January 19, 2018 14:36
The plan outlines an approach, which will enable karate to compete and win medals at the international competitions such as the World Karate Federation (WKF) Championships and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
BOKA recently held a High Performance workshop at the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) warm up area where, amongst others, Olympic qualification framework and Botswana Long Term Development Program (LTDP), were discussed. Four assistant coaches for the junior and senior national teams were appointed on contracts running from 2018 until 2020. The coaches are on a six-month probation. Assistant coaches for the senior team are Peter Molefe and Keone Kgorotlhe. George Tshikare and Goitseone Mongologa have made a return to the junior team.
BOKA said they expect to have appointed head coaches next month. The positions have reportedly attracted foreign interest.
BOKA president, Tshepho Bathai recently told Mmegi Sport they want to get a coach who would be impartial. For his part, AUSC Region Five president, Sensei Million Masumbika said it was high time foreign coaches were appointed.
“We must get somebody who can train both athletes and coaches. You must also be aware that getting foreign coaches is expensive. BOKA must be able to account to the nation at the end of it all,” said Masumbika, a former BOKA president. He said in the past, BOKA had an agreement with the Egypt Karate Federation on a coaches exchange programme. Karatekas are upbeat as for the first time, in a long period, there appears to be unity. Since his return to office, Bathai has been the glue that has kept the affiliates together, and his efforts are slowly bearing fruit.
Kemmonye Seletamotse of Police club said the weekend workshop came at the right time. “The presentation on the LTDP was important because it is a step by step programme on how you should start with a child, from grassroots to competition and when you should expect a medal from international competition. I did not realise that we have been putting our athletes under a lot of pressure,” she said, after the workshop. Seletamotse said it now means they should go back to their training programmes. She said in the past, karate lost many athletes as a result of applying unnecessary pressure. Seletamotse said karate last won medals at a major competition in 1996 when the junior team comprising of Thabiso Maretlwaneng and Lesedi Lesotlho brought home a bronze medal from the World Junior Championship. Another participant, Kgorotlhe said as coaches they have not been aware that the training of athletes differs, according to their ages.
“The training of an athlete five and nine years, should not be similar to an athlete between 14-16 and 18 and above. In all sporting codes, athletes are trained on a continuous basis. We should stop being medal oriented but success oriented. We must be developing athletes targeting that they do well in the coming years,” Kgorotlhe said.
He said the workshop came at a right time when they are preparing for Tokyo 2020. He said BOKA leadership did a good job by engaging the past leadership to learn why they did well at the WKF championship. Meanwhile, Bathai said he has a firm belief that karate can go places. “My vision is to have a stable organisation that is very successful in six areas,” he said.
The key focus areas would be continuous success at international competitions including World Championship, Commonwealth and Olympic Games and to have 30 WKF accredited referees. Bathai said they need administrators who have experience in corporate management and with good financial and business acumen.
“BOKA should be able to sustain itself financially, raise enough funds on its own through its businesses and investments. Coaches and instructors form the foundation of the success of our athletes,” he said.
Bathai said his vision is to have them highly qualified and expose them to be fit enough to develop athletes from grassroots to being elite athletes who win medals.
He said the association should have a research unit meant to look into ways of developing sport, issues such as sports medicine and best practice amongst others. He said the other area is to create a product that is liked by supporters and sponsors.