P600,000 Spar Boost For Netball Team
Naledi Lemogang | Monday April 10, 2017 13:04
The deal, which was announced on Saturday, will see Spar reward Botswana’s player of the match with P1,000 cash for every game during the tournament. This is meant to motivate the players to do their best.
Speaking during the sponsorship launch in Gaborone, Spar representative Bakwena Mulale said it is inspiring to step in and sponsor the team. She said Spar is proud to be part of the team and a supporter during the World Cup.
Mulale said Spar has proven their commitment and passion for local netball, having been “a proud sponsor of netball in Botswana for the past four years”.
“As a company, we feel that this sponsorship is perfect as we strive to support the overall goals of the event, which are to deliver netball to the world the African way,” Mulale said.
She said they also want to enhance the netball brand in Botswana and extend the brand to the world. Spar Botswana has also shown their commitment to the team by organising #ReABaTsaa netball tournament.
The five-week tourney is meant to prepare the national team and has other sides BDF Cats, men’s team, the women’s senior side, Notwane, Jungle Queens and the Under-21. It started with a massive display of commitment from the junior national side, which beat BDF Cats 45-27.
The game started at a high pace with high levels of commitment from the national side while their opponents were slow in the first quarter.
Team Botswana attacked relentlessly and managed to convert their attacks into goals while BDF was not able to defend well. BDF went to the breather of the first quarter trailing 19-2.
The second quarter saw the Under-21 increase their lead to 30-11 although BDF Cats managed to convert nine times. But overall, the Under-21 side was always in control.
In the third quarter, BDF Cats managed to raise the bar, but could not break down a solid Under-21 defence.
With the motivation they got from the fans, the national team played well, displaying a brilliant performance. They were able to hold and step with the ball skillfully. They set the pace for the rest of the five-week tournament.
Assistant coach, Kagisano Mawela said the game was not tough since their opponents did not bring their best team which they expected. She added that preparations have been going well.
The team was recently in South Africa as part of preparations in order to get time to train together as a team.
“The only problem we have during our preparations is that we are dealing with students, therefore sometimes when we go for training camps, they will be held back by school commitments.
Some of the players failed to go to South Africa for the preparations because of academic commitments,” Mawela said. She said they are dealing with that to cater for those players that who some preparations.
The Under-21 squad: Cheludo David, Pearl Maribe, Kgomotso Mathibini, Maipelo Mosotho, Florence Poane, Gorata Rabasaka, Maugo Simon, Amochilane Petros, Chene Mbangiwa, Segolame White, Tsaone Tshegofatso
Coach: Bothole Mmopi