The changes follow an advice from the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC). Speaking to Sport Monitor on the sidelines of the Annual General Meeting (AGM), which was held on Saturday, BCF president Neo Selwe said the BNOC cited that their acronyms are similar to those of Botswana Chess Federation (BCF). She said they wrote to the International Cheer Union seeking permission, which was granted. She said they are in the process of changing the name at the Registrar of Societies. BCF is an associate member of the BNOC. She said re-branding is a tedious exercise that is financially demanding. “We are still trying to find a way of growing the sport of Cheer. We intend to go around schools, tertiary institutions and even members of the public; we want to encourage them to form clubs. For the past two years we could not host our national championships and we could not even send any official for benchmarking purposes,” she said.
The president said the AGM was the first formal meeting they held since they were registered with the Societies in 2018. Selwe said that has led to BCF not being in very good competitive space as there is little knowledge about cheerleading in the community. Selwe said they want to come up with fund raising strategies. She said they have submitted a budget proposal of P2 million to the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) but they know that they cannot get such an amount. Some of the items that the Federation intends to purchase include landing mats (P100,000), cheerleading pompons (P50,000), music information and licensing (P10,000), tumbling and stunts clinic (P15,000) amongst others.
Selwe said BCF have 14 affiliates but there are some who are not active because they are community based and do not have access to training facilities. “Other members who are not active is a drawback. We have such concerns that some people are not active. Despite others being inactive, we have new ones, being Maruapula, UB Relics and Botho University Cats. Another one is coming up at the Dow Academy in Mochudi,” she said.
Selwe said the absence of other members makes it difficult for them to take some decisions. Meanwhile, Selwe said cheerleading has many categories, six years to 10 years (learning stage), 10-12 years (competition stage), juniors (12-16 years) and seniors (16-24 years).
