Tlhaselo juggles between volleyball and disability sport
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday June 24, 2023 06:00
The SESAD is an organisation that seeks to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in sport. Eyebrows from other sports officials were raised when Tlhaselo, who is BVF media relations and marketing officer, was spotted at the Malebogo Max Foundation Games in Gaborone, where he was actively involved in the touchline as a coach for the SESAD wheelchair basketball team that eventually finished third in the tournament. Mmegi Sport has established the disability sport organisation that serves communities in the South Eastern region of the country and based in Ramotswa, appointed Tlhaselo as its sports coordinator through a partnership with his sports development academy, Dynamites. The academy is known in volleyball to have unearthed and produced talented players who have played for both junior and senior national teams.
When asked how he juggles between the two sports bodies, the BVF and the SESAD, Tlhaselo said it was not a big deal. He told Mmegi Sport that he did not see the appointment as a big deal as he was only helping the disadvantaged sportspersons near his homestead, Ramotswa, while volleyball activities were equally being organised by the committee without any hindrance. “I reside in Ramotswa and I am a passionate sportsperson. So when some officers at the Ramotswa District Council sought my assistance for the sports people with disabilities in the area, I was more than willing to help, only later to find out that they even had their sports grounds not far from my home. I have been their friend since, no big deal,” he said. Tlhaselo said SESAD is not even a sports body at the level of BVF but just a community organisation. The SESAD chairperson, Martin Motlhabe confirmed that they were working with Tlhaselo.
He said Tlhaselo has been tasked with reviving the sports body and to establish numerous other sporting opportunities for the organisation’s people with disability. “Our organisation was almost dead and the morale was down because of several things I cannot mention for now, but from the day he was introduced to us by authorities in the village, things started to look up. He brought us good ideas and motivated us towards what we see happening in our organisation today,” he said. Motlhabe said Tlhaselo guided the SESAD team to the DTCB games, where it excelled for people who started training late. “The SESAD and Dynamites have signed a working agreement that will see the academy also involve children with disabilities in sport development programmes as well as to bring various sports activities to our facility and other areas in the South East region,” Motlhabe said.
Although Tlhaselo dismissed any suggestions that his involvement with people with disabilities will affect his work at BVF, a source in volleyball circles suggested that his energy had waned in volleyball. However, Tlhaselo said he had not lost interest in serving on the volleyball executive committee.