Botswana Football Association (BFA) acting technical director, Dr Carolin Braun says the COVID-19 pandemic has affected football activities.

Speaking at Botswana Tertiary Student Sport Association (BOTESSA) preliminary coaching course on Tuesday, Dr Braun said football constituents had experienced challenges and unpredictable circumstances this year.

“But we cannot just fold our arms.

At the same time we had to follow all the COVID-19 protocols. Because the cases are escalating in Botswana. But as football we can still do something like conducting courses such as this one.” She said.

Dr Braun said both BFA and BOTESSA had a partnership, adding that they desired to have more coaching courses. She said the preliminary coaching course was a pathway. Adding that the coaching pathway was like a pyramid as massive participation was inevitable.

Furthermore, she noted that the course was a foundation for the coaches to grow and acquire other licenses.

BOTESSA president, Keorapetse Setlhare said the preliminary course would leave a lasting legacy in the affiliates as it would produce quality athletes. He said their desire was for athletes to compete both internationally and regionally and bring positive results for the country.

“The course came at the right time. And I am confident that next year we will start in a very good position given that our coaches are now capacitated.” He said.

Setlhare said BFA and BOTESSA had a common understanding of the development of the game hence they signed a memorandum of understanding in 2017 aimed at working together and coming up with a possible solution of solving all the challenges in the game.

He said one objective of their collaboration with BFA was to harmonise the developmental programme.

“BFA runs clinics for us. They offer us facilities for our activities. And I want to thank the acting technical director for her continued support.” He said.