Volleyball clubs have called for allocation of grants to ease their financial woes as Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) braces for action return.
Clubs are poised for return to action this month after a lengthy period of inactivity.
BVF has since sanctioned a beach volleyball tournament that started on the 29th of January.
An indoor tournament will subsequently follow from February 12th until March.
However at the center of attraction is the indoor tournament which normally attracts massive costs for clubs to honour their games.
With clubs having been dormant for the longest time, red flags have been raised that clubs are financially crippled therefore, there have been calls for BVF to consider giving clubs grants ahead of the tournament.
“We are not ready, most of our players are unavailable since they are engaged and our feeder systems which are school,s haven’t been active sports wise. I’m not even sure if we still have training equipment including kits, balls and nets. We haven’t committed to playing, we are to meet as a team and decide on the issue but the way I see it, it’s going to force team leaders to dig from their pockets to run clubs. If clubs could be given some grants by BVF to sustain themselves it can rescue the situation, it’s the only way otherwise it’s going to be a disaster,” said Kabelo Marumo of Kalavango Club.
According to Odirile Sibanda of Yaros Olympic Club, they haven’t started training as players are scattered all over the country and money is needed to bring them together. “Remember its been two years without playing together, so it has its own challenges. Despite the challenges we want to honour all the fixtures. Financially it’s a tough one. I just pray that the first tournament should come as a booster financially and motivation for players. But as a club we need a financial cushion because it’s like starting afresh,” he said.
For his part, Kutlwano Club mouthpiece Tjiyapo Madeluka said; “We are still waiting to hear from the federation, we can’t assemble the team when we have nothing on the plate. Team assembling is expensive, so we can’t train for nothing, players need food, transport and accommodation, so as a club we can only commit once we have tournaments coming,” he said.
Though full logistics are not yet out, BVF has committed P500 000 towards the indoor volleyball tournament.
However the money will have to go towards the tournament administration, prize monies and adhering to Covid-19 protocols.
In an interview, BVF Vice President-Administration, Ndibo Lebala, said they expect all their affiliates to take part in return to play.
“We are currently working on a figure of P700 000 with P200 000 going to beach volleyball. Our prize money and possibly club assistance funds will be distributed from the P500 000. We understand that clubs are going to struggle as we have been out of action as they have no or limited revenue streams. As this is an important exercise marking our return to play, assistance to clubs is in our plans,” he said.