Botswana Softball Association

Background Informations



The introduction of softball in Botswana was in the early 70’s due to the presence of the American Peace Corps (volunteers) working at different secondary schools. With the enormous experience and assistance in the development of the sport, the sport grew rapidly among secondary schools leading to the formation of an inter-league under BISA.

Even after the discontinuity of the volunteers’ activities, many secondary graduates continued to play the sport for the purposes of recreation, fitness and competition. These made the sport more popular and by the mid-1970s, an independent Association was established to co-ordinate the activities of the sport outside the schools. As a result, the Botswana Softball Association (BSA) was formed in 1977.



The BSA has made and continues to make impressive inroads into the development of softball in the country. In the 28 years of its existence, the BSA competed in all regional competitions at senior national team level. The BSA also managed to compete in the World Softball Championships under the auspices of the International Softball Federation (ISF). The men’s team started competing in 1984 whilst the women’s team started in 1994.



Currently, there are 37 teams, 16 of which are women’s teams, participating in our National League, and other competitions. The teams are from various places in the country namely: Jwaneng, Maun, Sua-Pan, Selebi-Phikwe, Orapa, Palapye, Lobatse, Gaborone, Mochudi, Gabane, Maun and Molepolole. Based on these figures, there are about 1000 senior active softball players across the country at any given playing season in the senior BSA organized competitions. 



Other than active players, there are many people, particularly in cities and town centers, who follow this sport and indeed watch softball games as one of their recreational activities, and based on these, it has shown that softball is fast becoming an alternative form of entertainment in the country. BSA has both men and women’s senior national teams and has competed at the World Championships. Softball is now a medal sport at the Olympics and the All Africa Games for women since 1996 and 2003 respectively.



Today the Association is an affiliate of the Botswana National Sport Council (BNSC), Supreme Council for Sports in Africa Zone VI Confederation, African Baseball and Softball Association (ABSA), International Softball Federation (ISF), Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC).



Recent Performance Review



Softball as a team sport has achieved un-paralleled performances at regional and international arena. This section below covers some of the major achievements of the Association, as well as the constraints faced and the lessons learnt. The achievements also include the Association successes in the past in acquiring sponsorships to effectively implement its activities and organized competitions. 



Vision



BSA Vision “Softball; the Diamond Sport of Botswana by the year 2009”.

The Botswana Softball Association (BSA) would like to develop Softball into a very attractive and glittering sport code. BSA would like to develop and trim “diamond” athletes, “diamond” coaches, ‘diamond” umpires and “diamond” administrators. It is our conviction that for Softball to develop, Batswana need to be attracted to our Diamond pitches in large numbers thus our motto will be: “The Diamond Pitch; Venue of Preferred Choice for Batswana”.



Mission



The Mission statement defines the overall objective of the Association as follows: “Botswana Softball Association exists to promote and co-ordinate the development of softball as both leisure and a competitive sport locally and internationally; promote physical fitness of our athletes; promote mutual respect and friendliness with other sports codes, national and international bodies and the community at large; we exist to uphold National Pride through creation, adherence and achievement of very high standards on and off the Diamond Pitch”.



Values



The values emphasise the philosophy that BSA adopts with regard to the behaviour and conduct of its members in pursuing its vision and mission.

 

• Excellence
• Teamwork
• Humanness (Botho)
• National Pride
• Health and Wellness
• Sports for leisure
• Transparency

Objectives:

 

• To promote physical fitness and recreation amongst its members.
• To develop sport athletes of the world class standard through the development of players, coaches, umpires and scorers.
• To encourage national and international competitions in and outside Botswana.
• To promote softball as an amateur sport in the Olympic tradition, and to encourage fair play.
• To maintain an affiliation with the BNSC, ISF, BNOC, and other national and international organizations related to softball.
• To improve the organizational structure of the Association.
• To market softball and to raise sponsorship and promote softball’s relationship with its sponsors.
• In conjunction with BISA, and other organizations to start age based national teams.
• To develop technical training programmes to improve skill base of coaches and other volunteer sport leaders.
• To encourage our members to play sport for leisure, health, employment and national pride.
• To include information about prevention against HIV infection, education and awareness in our programmes.