The team returned home on Sunday after finishing a disappointing 18th out of 20 countries at the just-ended World Youth Championships in Cook Island, Australia. Lebotse said players lacked basic game skills. Botswana was in pool C with neighbours South Africa, Samoa, Fiji and champions Australia. Lebotse said though they faced countries that are better resourced and more prepared, they should have done better. She added that if the team was well prepared, Botswana would not have lost to the likes of Samoa and Fiji who were not difficult opponents. Botswana lost all its four games 97-11 against Australia, 58-40 against Samoa 62-19 against South Africa and 43-31 against Fiji.
Botswana coach, Lorato Thebekgosi agreed that the team failed to match their opponents pound for pound. She said his team did not have adequate preparations for the tournament because of financial problems. She stated that if the players had trained together for a long time, they could have performed better. She concurred with Lebotse that players lacked basic skills because at the national level, coaches did not have enough time to concentrate on the basics. "When we have players at the national team, we just believe that they have learnt the basics of the game at their clubs," Thebekgosi said.
