The Sunday News
Senior Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO will host this year’s edition of the Confederation of School Sport Associations of Southern Africa ball games in August. According to the National Association of Secondary Heads vice-president Arthur Maphosa, the resolution to stage the games in the City of Kings and Queens was made at the end of last year. The idea was part of the initiative to utilise the facilities which were used for the African Union Region Five Under-20 Games held in the city in December.
The games are scheduled for 26 to 30 August. Contestants will compete in basketball (boys and girls Under-17), football (boys and girls), netball (girls only Under-13 and Under-17), sevens rugby (boys only Under-17) tennis (all age groups boys and girls) and volleyball (boys and girls Under-17).
Maphosa disclosed that they were in talks with the Bulawayo City Council to make use of its stadia that include Barbourfields, Luveve and White City. According to Maphosa, the local authority is yet to make a call on whether to make them pay for use of its facilities during the games.
“The decision to have the Cossasa ball games in Bulawayo was made last year in anticipation of the facilities developed for the AU Region Five Games held in the city. We have engaged the Bulawayo City Council to make available some of their infrastructure for our games, they are yet to make a decision on whether they will make us pay or avail them for free,’’ said Maphosa.
Hillside Teachers College has been identified to accommodate close to 600 contestants.
Plans are to use Barbourfields outside grounds for the football preliminary rounds with the finals set for White City which is also the tentative venue for netball.
Rugby is most likely to be played at Hartsfield Rugby Ground, tennis at the Bulawayo Athletic Club while a venue for basketball has not yet been identified.
Countries which are active in the Cossasa are Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe while those that have not participate in the games for a long time include Angola, Mozambique, Seychelles and South Africa.
At last year’s edition of the ball games held in Zambia, Zimbabwe finished second to Botswana. Maphosa said Zimbabwe did not send a full complement of competitors in Zambia due to financial constraints. However, with the games being held in Zimbabwe this year, the country was looking to field teams in all competitions.
Competitions such as the Stella Tea for netball and the Arenel for football are going to be used to select teams to represent the country in the Cossasa ball games.
The Zimbabwean team will go into camp 14 days before the start of competition.
NASH president Johnson Madhuku, who is also the headmaster of Pamushana High School, is the head of Cossasa.
