'Beach' volleyball tourney coming
MOSAH MOKGANEDI
Correspondent
| Wednesday November 14, 2007 00:00
The event will be held on November 24 at Ozone premises in Tlokweng. BVF vice president (technical) Waboraro Mokgatle said in Gaborone yesterday that since there were no beaches in the country, BVF would improvise by piling up more sand at the venue for the unique event to go ahead as planned.
He said they would have loved that players train first on sandy pitch ahead of the tournament but that would not be possible as there were no such venues anywhere in the country.
However, Mokgatle does not believe lack of proper training venues will diminish the quality of the game.
He said the best and most important thing that players, who want to take part in the event, could do was to train to gain physical fitness. Over 50 players are expected to participate in the event, which would also be used to attract more Batswana to volleyball.
He revealed that they have long aspired to introduce the game in Botswana and Ozone recently made their dream come true when they sponsored the event for an undisclosed amount. The tournament is open to everyone, including people who are not currently active in volleyball, Mokgatle said.
Mokgatle explained that beach volleyball is similar to indoor volleyball save for the fact that it features only two players per team. The other difference is that beach volleyball requires more physical fitness as it is played on sand. At the time of going to press, BVF was yet to finalise the game guidelines for what Mokgatle said may become an annual event.
The volleyball chief hailed the introduction of beach volleyball saying it is a step in the right direction and shows that volleyball is growing. He encouraged players to come in large numbers to enjoy it.