Team Botswana drilled on doping

The National U 21 netball team has gone under rigorous drilling ahead of the 2017 Netball World Youth Cup (NWYC). The training will ensure that the local girls do not consume banned substances during the NWYC and their future games.

According to Team Botswana manager, Flora Kedibonye, the girls went under rigorous training regarding strict   anti-doping measures. “We have both dieticians and doctors in place, they monitor and educate the players on they type of things to avoid.”

According to Kedibonye, players are fully aware of the penalties that may come about with doping and they will desist from such behavior. “With the amount of attention given to this issue I believe the girls have a clean bill of health and doping will not any how associate with this camp,” she said.

The training workshop was conducted by Fafe Sports and the Botswana National Sports Commission Committee (BNSC) on issues of doping. Kedibonye said it is often challenging to identify products to avoid in such matters.

However two players from the team passed their doping test last year in Angola not in any danger of doping cases.

For his part, BNSC Chief Executive Officer Falcon Sedimo encouraged local girls to stay clean during the team launch at Gaborone International Convention Centre earlier this week. The   eagerly anticipated games are expected to start on 8th July. Speaking during the launch, Team Botswana Vice captain Katlego Dipatelelo said the camps in Australia and Singapore had significance on how they play and how they will approach their opponents.

“We have been travelling to South Africa for tournaments, we also travelled to Singapore and Australia as part of our preparation, and we played local teams and the men’s team so we get a bit of physique in our game.”

Dipatelelo believes the team’s recent trips to Australia helped them progress their ball work. “ For us in Africa it’s always about running with the ball, but we have learnt how to play a more technical game where we put the ball in space without a lot of physique being involved.”

Team Botswana is targeting a Top 8 finishes with the transition that has been going on in the team. “Our defence has improved mightily and our goal scoring range between 80 and 90 percent our interception at our defence part is above 10,” said Dipatelelo.