BOFINET SOFTBALL LEAGUE RETURNS
Botswana Softball Association (BSA) Vice President, Batsetswe Gontlafetse, has revealed to Voice Sport that the Bofinet Softball league will return to action on the 24th of July, after forced suspension due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Responding to questions asked by Voice Sport this week, Gontlafetse said they have been given the go-ahead to resume their exciting run of fixtures, “We have been granted permission to start the league, and upgrading of our facilities to meet the compliance standards set by the Covid-19 Task Force is ongoing,” he said.
The BSA’S second in command further said despite the slight delay in the upgrade of the facilities, they are confident that the league will finally resume.
“Other facilities in Lobatse and Jwaneng are ready, and most teams have indicated their readiness to hit the grounds running,” Gontlafetse said.
Shedding more light on their relationship with their league sponsor, Bofinet, Gontlafetse said their contract is left with just two seasons, including the delayed 2019/20 season and lastly the 2020/21 season, which will come to an end in April 2021.
“At the moment, we can’t talk about whether the deal will be renewed or not. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” he said.
Quizzed about the memorandum of the agreement they had with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), he said, “We entered into this agreement with JICA back in 2017 with the main aim of developing skills and technical workshops for softball, and it has been a success as we hosted the University of Chuyko from Japan.”
Gontlafetse said officials from the University toured the country conducting coaching clinics with focus on coaches’ technical skills and athletes’ skills such as batting, throwing and fielding techniques.
“The three contracts, however, came to an end this year, a week before the outbreak of Covid-19. We’re, however, working on another proposal that will last until 2024,” he said.