News

University of Botswana will be part of the upcoming FNB Kazungula Bridge Marathon scheduled for February 26, 2022 as one of the institution’s initiatives to showcase sports excellence in nurturing world-class athletes.

The University is fielding 13 distance runners comprising staff and students, among them World Under-20 gold medalist, Phenyo Majama. The UB team also comprises national athletics team head coach, Justice Dipeba, who is also Sports Officer in the Department of Culture, Sports and Recreation.

Other notable figures are senior lecturer in the Department of Sports Science, Dr Tshepang Tshube, who authored Isaac Makwala’s biography titled The Solo Runner. Makwala is one of the athletes who use University of Botswana as their training ground as well as the High Performance Centre (HPC) to prepare for major international meets such as the Olympics.

This highlights the fact that apart from track events, the other aim of participating at the FNB Kazungula Bridge Marathon is to also showcase the world-class facilities that the University of Botswana is endowed with such as the HPC.

As such, the Kazungula meet will further afford UB a unique opportunity to network with potential corporate clients besides showcasing key HPC services. Housed at the UB Campus Indoor Sports Centre, the HPC is sufficiently equipped with modern facilities to conduct high-level tests for both local and international athletes.

National teams that have so far benefitted from the HPC for high performance testing are volleyball, boxing, rugby and athletics. Elite athletes who went through the mill at the HPC before setting out for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are Amantle Montsho, Baboloki Thebe, Christine Botlogetswe and Nijel Amos. 

The athletes underwent high-performance tests to gauge their fitness levels based on international standards. The aim was to help the country enhance its performance at major international meets. Thus, the HPC accords athletes the most conducive environment for training and fitness testing. It also provides for coaching, mental skills training and other related resources required for holistic athlete development.

Overall, the HPC is a treasure trove for stakeholder opportunities in that there are ample opportunities for physiological and general fitness assessments, work related and sports specific fitness tests as well as psychological performance assessment. In addition, stakeholders can benefit from various performance analysis and interpretation, intervention and training programmes besides rehabilitation, recovery, health and wellness sessions.

Consequently, during the upcoming Kazungula meet, UB will provide a recovery bed to offer runners some therapy and have at hand a machine for conducting some tests such as blood pressure, weight, body fat, metabolic age and Body Mass Index (BMI).