{"id":81150,"date":"2026-02-11T17:17:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T17:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league"},"modified":"2026-02-11T17:54:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T17:54:40","slug":"amos-launches-youth-athletics-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league","title":{"rendered":"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Nijel Amos, Botswana\u2019s first-ever Olympic medalist, is turning his focus to the next generation. The London 2012 Olympic 800-metre silver medalist has announced plans to launch the Youth United Track and Field League, a national athletics series targeting young athletes between the ages of 9 and 18.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The initiative marks Amos\u2019s most significant contribution yet to grassroots sport development in Botswana.<\/p>\n<p>League Structure<\/p>\n<p>The league will open with Series One on 1 March in Francistown, providing young athletes with their first opportunity to compete on an inclusive, officially sanctioned platform under Botswana Athletics.<\/p>\n<p>Series Two is scheduled for 19 April in Gaborone, where returning athletes are expected to demonstrate growth, discipline, and competitive progression built from the opening meet.<\/p>\n<p>Inclusion Focus<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in a telephone interview, Amos said the league was founded primarily to promote inclusion across all levels of youth sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is about bringing together children from both private and public schools,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s also about including athletes with disabilities and ensuring that the girl child is actively encouraged to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amos emphasized that talent exists everywhere, regardless of background, schooling, or circumstance.<\/p>\n<p>Building Partnerships<\/p>\n<p>While preparations are progressing well, Amos confirmed that organizers are still seeking partnerships and sponsorships to strengthen the league\u2019s foundation. Despite this, he remains confident the initiative is moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n<p>He stressed that the league\u2019s long-term value lies in creating a sustainable pathway for young athletes to pursue their dreams in a structured environment.<\/p>\n<p>Shared Vision<\/p>\n<p>Amos said the project was developed alongside Simon Tshwaane, Sydney Seabo, and Solomon Mpusetsang, all united by a shared vision of accessibility in sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTogether, we\u2019ve created a national youth athletics league that brings private schools, public schools, and out-of-school youth onto one competitive platform\u2014because talent doesn\u2019t come from one place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The league is open to boys and girls aged 12 to 18, officially sanctioned by Botswana Athletics, and guided by a simple principle: sport should unite rather than divide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Botswana<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. Nijel Amos, Botswana\u2019s first-ever Olympic medalist, is turning his focus to the next generation. The London 2012 Olympic 800-metre silver medalist has announced plans to launch the Youth United Track and Field League, a national athletics series targeting young athletes between the ages of 9 and 18. The initiative marks Amos\u2019s most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":81149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17,244],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-81150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","category-to-homepage","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Amos Launches Youth Athletics League - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Botswana. Nijel Amos, Botswana\u2019s firs ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Botswana. Nijel Amos, Botswana\u2019s firs ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-11T17:17:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-11T17:54:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/sm_1770832105.972121.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-11T17:17:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-11T17:54:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league\"},\"wordCount\":350,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/sm_1770832105.972121.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league\",\"name\":\"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League - Botswana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/sm_1770832105.972121.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-11T17:17:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-11T17:54:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press - Botswana. Nijel Amos, Botswana\u2019s firs ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/sm_1770832105.972121.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/sm_1770832105.972121.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\",\"name\":\"Botswana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League - Botswana","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Botswana. Nijel Amos, Botswana\u2019s firs ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Botswana. Nijel Amos, Botswana\u2019s firs ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league","og_site_name":"Botswana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-02-11T17:17:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-11T17:54:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/sm_1770832105.972121.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League","datePublished":"2026-02-11T17:17:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-11T17:54:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league"},"wordCount":350,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/sm_1770832105.972121.jpg","keywords":["Botswana"],"articleSection":["all news","sport","to-homepage"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league","name":"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League - Botswana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/sm_1770832105.972121.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-11T17:17:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-11T17:54:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Botswana. Nijel Amos, Botswana\u2019s firs ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/sm_1770832105.972121.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/sm_1770832105.972121.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amos-launches-youth-athletics-league#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Amos Launches Youth Athletics League"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/","name":"Botswana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}