Volleyball Federation satisfied with just-ended league
Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) is satisfied with the just ended league, noting the competition served its purpose and delivered some impressive results.
Making its return after a six-year absence, the league started late last July, coming to an end on 10 May, with Police VI and BDF VI crowned champions in the men’s and women’s divisions respectively.
Both teams went the entire season without losing a single game, perfect police winning all 26 matches while the army ladies went 20 unbeaten. In total, 11 teams took part in the women’s league, while 14 played in the men’s side.
Unable to attract a sponsor, the league’s resurrection was made possible thanks to a P928, 000 grant from the Ministry of Sports and Culture.
Although there was no prize money for the winners, BVF President, Tsoseletso Magang is convinced the positives outweighed the negatives.
“We are happy that we managed to revive the league. We are looking forward to taking it on and are in talks with certain people, who we hope will assist financially for next season. We have aligned our season to that of the FIVB [International Volleyball Federation] and it is our wish to keep it like that because it helps with easy facilitation of transfers,” said Magang, who is hopeful sponsors will be more likely to come on board after seeing what the sport has to offer.
“We are engaging with potential sponsors since we now have content. It will be nice to have some sponsors next season. I don’t care what point they come in, even if it’s mid-season; as long as we get support from our Ministry it’s fine because at this point we are looking for sponsors for prize money mainly. I have always believed that when the league ends any team which took part should get prize money because people take money out of their pockets to run teams,” stated Magang.
The BVF President believes teams’ vastly improved performances at the Zone VI Club Championships in December was a direct result of having league action.
Spiking Stars women came second to qualify for the Africa Senior Club Championships, while Police and Mafolofolo narrowly missed out, finishing 3rd and 4th.
It marked a welcome return to form for local sides at a tournament they once dominated but have struggled at in recent years.
“When players are inactive for a long time, the level of competition goes down and we have seen that in the last two years where we had only tournaments not league. It was quite visible in women and when the league progressed we saw an improved performance. Our teams had dropped the baton in their Zone VI performance and not matching the standard of their competitors, but we have seen improvement last year. We believe in Namibia our teams will perform even better provided we are able to start our league early in July,” said Magang, in reference to this year’s regional competition.
“We are moving forward with a lot of confidence,” she declared.
A return to the courts also benefited referees, with some receiving international call-ups.
Kgosiesele Omphemetse was nominated by the CAVB to officiate at the 2025 Women’s African Volleyball Club Championship in Nigeria in April.
“The referees have managed to improve their skills but it’s not yet enough so we saw the need to do refresher courses for our officials to give us the standard we deserve. We are not growing at a rate in which we want in refereeing but we want to improve,” said Magang, adding BVF will host an international level II Coaching Course in June.
