Stars' Programme To Cintinue In July

NELSON DIRENG
Correspondent | Monday May 31, 2010 00:00

Tsamaya Primary School had until November last year been holding training sessions on a weekly basis under the supervision of SSPA coaches.

The training sessions are however set to resume at the end of July.   SSPSA head coach, Ernest Dintweng said the training sessions stopped last year because of the school curriculum. 'Third term in government schools is normally meant for athletics,' he said.  Dintweng said it is difficult to convince teachers at this point to allow children to participate in ball sports, which is why they decided to postpone this year.

He said they would however use the little time allocated for ball sports effectively.

'We will also use this period to host the Ernest Dintweng Youth Cup that will involve primary and junior schools from Tsamaya and the six surrounding villages including Tshesebe, Themashanga, and Mabudzane,' said Dintweng.

He said SSPA was established after the realisation that there was a need for football development schemes in small villages.  He said that the Botswana Football Association (BFA)'s Re Ba Bona Ha is a good initiative but it focused mostly on towns and big villages where it has centres. 'Because of this, children in small villages are disadvantaged because they don't have access to such opportunities,' he said. He said that SSPA has been established to assist BFA with the filling of these gaps as it will undertake the same duties as Re Ba Bona Ha.  Dintweng, however, said they decided to start with Tsamaya as it is the place they are familiar with. 'Most of us in the executive committee grew up playing football in this place and we know where to start to implement such a programme,' he said.  He, however, said that in July, they are going to expand to accommodate the other six villages around Tsamaya. He said in future, they would cover the whole North Eastern before penetrating the entire country.

SSPA secretary Chris Saku-Natshi said after the Youth Cup, they would select 20 students from each village, who will be registered under the SSPA.

'The objective is to put the children under an intensive training course for two weeks with our qualified coaches,' he said. Saku-Nathi said they would further select 25 students whom they feel are the crme of the crop to represent them at the annual Orange Youth Cup.

The SSPA recently received its certificate from the Registrar of Societies and it will soon be recognised as a club under the BFA.  Saku-Nathi however said they are still struggling to get sponsorship.  He said currently, to sustain themselves, they ask for donations.

'We accept assistance from anyone, including companies because we don't have an established sponsor,' he said.