GIRLS FOOTBALL FESTIVAL GOES TO PHIKWE
The Botswana Football Association (BFA) and Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTC) Girls Football Festivals advance to the Phikwe Regional Football Association this weekend.
The region is expected to have a maximum of 80 participants monitored by 12 trained coaches, with the girls set to be divided into groups for easy facilitation and monitoring.
The BFA’s Womens Football Manager, Tsholofelo Sethoko noted that the initiative will bridge the development gap which has been left void due to inactivity of school sport in the country. “This concept materialized after schools in these different regions expressed their interest to be part of the development project for girls.” Women Football development has been one of the association’s top priorities and with the help of CAF club licensing requirements, there has been more women participation in the country and therefore, proper development structures are a necessity. Recently, the senior women team performed well and are set to compete in their maiden Africa Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) finals slated for the 2nd -23rd July 2022 in Morocco. “Last month, we were in Jwaneng, where we made a start of the girl’s grassroots festivities. We hosted 53 girls from the expected 80 due to the school break but we had girls from Teemane, Jwana and Kgalagadi Primary Schools just to mention a few. The participation was overwhelming and the kids showed passion and the zeal to learn more from their coaches,” she said. She added that the parents also came through to show support to their kids throughout the day which was an encouraging sight as society is beginning to accept and appreciate that women are also more than capable to play football.
This girls grassroots festival is aimed at promoting the women’s game through girls between the ages of 6-12 years by giving them an opportunity to play, learn life skills through football, have fun and change the perceptions of women’s football. Furthermore, these grassroots festivities will also aid in developing girls’ specific grassroots centres that will feed youth teams at regional level as well as junior women’s national teams as a result of mass participation in football. As part of DTC Botswana’s Social Investment strategy to promote equality and diversity, the mining company last year, launched its sponsorship to the Botswana Football Association. The sponsorship is set to run over a three-year period to the tune of P2 Million (P2, 430, 000).
This patronage has also been set to fund the development of the Grassroots Football Training Programme in primary schools within the 17 BFA Regions countrywide to benefit the girl child. The next destination for the development team, after the Phikwe region, will be the Francistown Regional Football Association for completion in mid-August.