Tlhabano-David calls for support of Para athletes

The Commonwealth Alumnus Tlhabano-David told Sport Monitor that as a counselling and sport psychologist, usually she works with athletes at club level at the University of Botswana and also with the national team. “I was with the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games team together with Dr Tshepang Tshube. I was the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games team sport psychologist even during preparations. It was particularly during the qualifiers for Tokyo 2020 because we had a big provisional team and part of that team we had the Paralympics Association of Botswana (PASSOBO) team,” she said.

Tlhabano-David said she realised that when it came to the other teams, she was tasked with the responsibility of providing psychological support. She knew that the PASSOBO team was also in camp but in a different place. She was, however, confused if they were also part of the team that was to receive her support because in the initial list they were not included. “I had to ask and I was informed that they were part of the team. I realised that it was not intentional but somehow they can be forgotten because they camped in a different place. Even though other teams like judo and boxing were in different places, their managers were able to contact me that they needed help,” she said.