BG correspondent

It has been proven elsewhere in the world that nations with sports academies excel in international competitions.
Now Botswana has finally caught a wake up call and will in the not so distant future establish centres of sport excellence. The process that is at planning stage is set to take off in January 2011.
“The idea was mooted following realisation that national teams were performing poorly in regional, continental and international competitions. It was discovered that to make the country competitive there was need to establish Centres of Sport Excellence,” stated the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture.
An enquiry by BG Sports revealed that already preliminary meetings between the ministries of Education and Skills Development, and Youth, Sport and Culture have been held. These meetings have resulted in identifying some sport codes and schools to use for the pilot project. The codes identified are athletics, boxing, football, karate, netball, softball and volleyball.
The idea was first raised in 1998 during the Seepapitso Commission which was set up to investigate why national teams were performing poorly and the concept was given closer attention in 2002.
Athletics is one sporting code that has suffered most in the absence of such academies. Structures such as Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA) have been athletics’ main feeder at school level. However, there have been hiccups in terms of nurturing such talent because it has been difficult to retain athletes as they stay active for as long as there is athletics in their school calendar and after that they are lost to other codes when it is ball sports season.
Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) president Moses Bantsi has said they welcome this development because it will go a long way in identifying talent at an early age and in ensuring that it is nurtured.
“At the moment athletes are scattered. Having them at one place would reduce the problem of stretching resources in an effort to identify such talent,” stated Bantsi.
He also said identifying schools of excellence is only the beginning as the greatest challenge lies in placing competent and trained personnel for such a task.
On the other hand, softball, which is already intensifying its development structures, views this development as having come at the right time. Botswana Softball Association (BSA) president, Marumo Morule, said they intend to take full advantage of this initiative. He added that at the moment because their players at development structures are still at school, they only have them during holidays. Morule said at the moment they are busy preparing for Junior Women’s World Championships from December 6-17, 2011 in Cape Town and that if these schools of excellence take off early next year they will benefit hugely.   
As much as he is excited by this development, Morule said his only concern is consultation with other stakeholders such as the public, which he said was important for this initiative not to fail.
The schools of excellence idea is intended to develop a culture of sport, improve the country’s performance at all levels of competitions and develop sport personalities or athletes that earn a living from sport as an alternative to other forms of employment. Above all, the project hopes to reduce the amount of time lost by students during camps, as they will train in the same area where they go to school.