Junior fencers set eyes on Namibia
Friday, April 29, 2022 | 20 Views |
Namibia mission: The three young fencers with Thobega (2nd from left)
Despite their age seemingly lending itself to indicate a lack of experience, each of the boys has no less than half a decade of fencing experience, of which their master Thobega feels confident will reflect in the boys performance. "I believe these three boys are the upcoming stars of the Botswana Fencing Federation. These boys will be the very people that bring Botswana medals from the Olympics when they start to compete at senior level," Thobega said. "I'm expecting three medals from Lebone, two medals from Alakanani who will be competing in the Under-21 category and three medals from Retabile," he added.
The performance of the boys at the championships will be aimed at drawing more attention to the often under-funded sport. Thobega referenced the lack of interest in the sport locally often being tied to the preconceived socio-economic and racial status quo of the sport. He said his academy exists to make the sport accessible to all, to the extent of making membership to his academy free for all in 2022.
It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...