11 Jun 2024

Maru-a-Pula School’s dominance in grass roots basketball continued over the weekend as they clinched the boys Under 14 Debswana Re Ba Bona Ha title. 

The current ISSSA basketball champions reigned supreme over their rivals, Legae Academy, in the finals narrowly edging them out 12-11 in a tightly contested game. 

Despite an epic encounter at the finals, their road to glory was nonetheless an easy one, winning 14-8 against Rainbow International School and defeating DRBBH boys 21-7 to book a place in the final show down. 

In the girls’ category, Hoop Warriors Academy was victorious following a 5-2 win against Rainbow International. Speaking during the post games interview, Maru-a-Pula development coach, Moeti Dambe, credited his school’s dominance to investing in sport and grassroots development. 

He highlighted the importance of having a school sport programme, which he said was important in unearthing talent at the grassroots. 

“We need to take sports as seriously as we take our academics. Without school sport, the country would lose out plenty of unnurtured talent to the streets, which could negatively impact the country’s participation at international sporting events,” he said. 

 Dambe said the school had six junior teams ranging from Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16, adding that each age category had a designated coach with a special programme suitable for the age group. 

He said sports played an integral part to learner’s growth and development through character building, hence the school’s training programmes also equip the pupils with the necessary tools to prosper in life. 

“At Maru-a-Pula we have a full afternoon programme dedicated to extracurricular development with sport being a part of such programme and our coaching programmes are tailor-made for both on and off the court success, be it teamwork or respect in sportsmanship and other life skills,” he said. Notwithstanding the emphasis of basketball drilling,  Dambe said the afternoon school programmes also dwelled much on character building. 

Additionally, the Re Ba Bona Ha programme coach, Katlego Rakole, commended the tournament organising team for a successful tournament. She said the aim of the tournament was to provide young athletes from the Re Ba Bona Basketball programme, academies and other schools with exposure to high-level competition at an early age. 

To support this goal, Rakole said referees verbally corrected athletes after making calls to enhance their learning experience. She said she was hopeful for the junior team to carry forth lessons learnt during the tournament deep into their playing careers. ENDS