Kutlo Motseta
23rd July 2025
Between the 23 rd and 26 th June 2025, Botswana Tennis Federation (BTA) will host the Davis Cup (Group V) in Gaborone at the National Tennis Centre in Gaborone.
15 African countries will participate in the tournament, the official ‘World Cup of Tennis’. It returned to Botswana last year, in a move which bodes well for the local development of the sport, which has significant economic and career possibilities.
On Saturday BTA hosted its annual ‘Botswana National Coaches Conference’, which showed ways in which batswana can access opportunities offered by tennis as top international coaches and renowned players such as Serena and Venus Williams have.
Dominic Modise, is a Master’s degree graduate (human performance) and a USA based tennis coach who obtained a tennis scholarship to study there 24 years ago and has been involved in university sports since, urged Batswana to look beyond race and trust in the ability of local coaches.
“We need to put race aside and also trust in black excellence … I am a black coach and have work double to show that I know tennis,” said Modise.
Six years ago, Modise, started a platform for local children to go to school in the United States of America (USA). He owns and manages Play College Sport USA and has placed many student athletes from across the world there.
“You don’t have to be the best, if you can play ten points, there is always a school for you to go to … … College players are now paid to play tennis … [at my school] upon graduation they get P3 million per year for entry level jobs,” added Modise.
He said, “[You] have to be at least 16 years old to go college (University) … have to pass academically to play sport at college … we want you to graduate and be successful”.
However, it’s not just about whether a child wins on court, as some have lots of passion which eventually reveals their potential.
“We don’t just take results even if losing we look at how a player is losing,” said Modise. Signifying the importance of attitude over current performance in relation to potential for university and professional tennis, he added: “[A number one student player] … if they are on the phone between breaks … nna ke tsamaya (I leave) … this kid is useless!”
The USA boasts a massive sports university business infrastructure. The universities have stadiums which host 100 000 people such as Louisana State University and University of Alabama amongst others, for various sports. For example, the University of Nebraska drew an audience of 90 000 for a volleyball game. Football university sports coaches are paid over P100 million, which shows the depth of the business, academic, sports model.
Major global sports companies sign deals with universities … Nike has a P 1.2 billion deal with the University of Colorado, whilst other universities also have deals with Nike, Under Armour, Adidas etc. regardless of their student population.
Duke University has 8 000 students – about a third of University of Botswana – and has a deal with Nike. In America big universities enrol over 60 000 students.
Modise urged parents to involve their children whilst they are still young, to fully realise their talent and get the most of all opportunities that are available in tennis and other sports.
The administrators and the like will also be present this week at the National Tennis Centre – next to the Gaborone Golf Club – as professional international tennis players entertain the public and compete for the Davis Cup between Wednesday and Saturday.
