Maun will next month host the 2023 Fast5 National Championships, which is a platform to select a team that will represent the country at the Tribago 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games FAST5 netball competitions set from the 14th to 18th August 2023 in Trinidad & Tobago.
For the first time in history, the Botswana under 18 ladies netball team has been selected as one of the eight teams that will compete at the competitions.
The 7th Edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games will be held across both islands featuring different sporting codes including aquatics, athletics, rugby, volleyball and among them the inaugural FAST5 netball competition.
Participating countries include Trinidad, Tobago, Australia, Canada, England, South Africa, Scotland, St Vincent & Grenadines and Botswana. South Africa and Botswana are the only two countries to represent the continent at the competitions that will be open to athletes between the ages of 14-18.
The 2023 Fast 5 National Championships will be held in Maun from the 14th -17th July 2023 were 10 deserving players will be selected to represent the country at the Commonwealth Youth Games.
In an interview, Botswana Netball Association (BONA) Public Relations Officer Mokeresete Mokeresete indicated that the Northern Zone Under 19 will next week host a tournament to select a team that will represent them in Maun. Participating teams comprise of Maun Heroes, Boteti River Giants, Thunderbolts (Letlhakane), Tasic, Tafic (Francistown), Nico United (S/Phikwe), Morupule Wanderers and Uprising Stars (all from Palapye).
“The Southern Zone will also do the same and select a team that will represent them in the tournament. The selections will feature Jwaneng, Thamaga Jaspers, BDF Cats (Mogoditshane), UB Crystals, Police, Prisons, Vipers and Notwane (all from Gaborone),” he told Times Sports.
The zonal elimination tournaments will be held from June 3rd to July 3rd, 2023 and winners of each zone will face each other in Maun in a tournament that will be used to select the under 18 ladies netball team that will represent the country at the commonwealth games.
Meanwhile Maun Heroes netball team recently conducted trials for both their senior and junior teams that will take part in the BONA league. The newly established club is a fully affiliated to the association and their junior team (Under 19) will take part in the Northern zone eliminations.
The Fast5 Maun Tournament is sponsored by SKL Group of Companies at a tune of P238 000.00 for a three year period.
In a recent interview, BONA President Malebo Raditladi-Nkgakile stated that it will be for the first-time netball get featured in the Commonwealth Youth Games, and such the exciting opportunity will help a lot in its national developments. She said the competition will showcase their talent and that they will definitely benefit from it as a country.
“Netball is a competitive sport like any other sporting code, it needs more game time and the more competitions we play for each category the more our development gets better,” she stressed.
Nkgakile added that this would also help them follow their Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) to the latter without jumping stages of development because they did not have the link between different stages.
