BOPSSA adds cricket to its portfolio

MOSAH MOKGANEDI
Correspondent | Friday March 19, 2010 00:00

This brings to five the number of codes under the association, formed three years ago. Others are netball, volleyball, football and athletics.

BOPSSA spokesperson Edward Moreti said the addition of cricket signifies the growth of the association. He said their intention is to add two more codes before the end of the year. BOPSSA plans to eventually register all sports codes in the country to enhance competition. Moreti explained that for a sport to be included in BOPSSA programmes, it has to be played in the majority of primary schools in the country. Besides, the code should not only be confined to a certain region.

Moreti said that the membership growth has been slow because most of the sports codes are not available at primary schools. Hence the association has taken it upon itself to keep encouraging different codes to spread to primary schools. Moreti said since BOPSSA took over the running of primary school sports from the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU), there has been a lot of improvement in the way sports is run at primary level. He said there has been beneficial networking with other sports codes. BOPSSA has employed an officer responsible for the day to day running of its affairs.

Though there have been some achievements, Moreti said they face constraints in their efforts to develop sports at primary school level. He said the grant they receive from the government through the Ministry of Education is insufficient. Most of BOPSSA money is used at national level rather than per school. Moreti said their intention is to compete internationally although this has not been possible so far.