Africa-Press – Lesotho. Encouragement of women in sports has recently been at the fore front worldwide and Lesotho has not stayed behind. Through the appointment of a female Minister of Gender,
Youth, Sports and Recreation Hon Likeleli Tampane, the government has opened a room for engagement of women in sports. The ministry and other sports mother bodies have also facilitated a series of capacity building initiatives to groom women in sports, coaching them to occupy leadership positions.
Informative Sport
has thus went out to talk to one of the female sports icons, Baholo Motene to learn about her journey in sports. Motene revealed to this reporter that she is one of the few females who joined soccer two decades ago.
Due to scarcity of ladies soccer teams, she played with Barcelona Football Club, which was a men’s soccer team. In 2007 at the age of 15, she joined Likhotsetsana, a women’s soccer team which was the most dominant ladies team in
the country. Motene explained that due to the abundance of quality players at Likhotsetsana she learned a great deal about soccer. “Joining Likhotsetsana
was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life time, it was a gateway to many of my accomplishments as the opportunity earned me an invitation to represent Berea at the Lesotho Vision 2020 tournament and from
this tournament I qualified to play for the Under 17 national team, then I later joined the women’s national team,” she reflected. Motene joined Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) in 2014. “My
international career ended when I joined the army in 2014, but that never stopped me from achieving my dreams as I saw the opportunity to become the pioneer of women’s football team in the army. The newly formed team was made of
Likhotsetsana Ladies team players many of whom were struggling to get employment and LDF management found it worthy to allow them to join the army,” said Motene
On top of being a soldier and the Lesotho Women’s Football Executive Committee president, she is also a full time mother and a wife. Sharing on how she manages her female roles along with hobbies and career, Motene said;
“The trick is to just love what you do and focus on it, stay determined and never be afraid to follow your passion because women are still more capable to
achieve what man can do,” she added. She further explained that LDF played a major role in her success by offering her a permanent job in the army as most
women football players did not get this opportunity. “It is sometimes difficult for women to maintain high positions due to so many commitments that we have but there are some factors
that can allow us to still maintain them. Most of women do strive hard to be at the peak but the problem is to secure the position, especially in sports. My
view is that if women can open up doors for learning new things, have hunger for leading positions and be willing to give it their all,” she said. She encouraged
women who still aspire to be leaders in football, to enrol for administrative courses that are regularly offered by Lesotho Football Association (LeFA).
She however noted that gender inequality is still one barrier in different sectors of development and encouraged that women should demand equal opportunities as men. “Women need to be aggressive to make it to top
positions in the football arena, more so, sports have a potential to empower women and they can be forced to amplify women’s voices and tear down gender
barriers and discrimination. Women should demolish the misperception that they are weak or incapable, additionally, participation in sports activities can
help to break-down gender stereotypes, improve women’s self-esteem and contribute to the development of leadership skills,” said Motene. At only 29 years, Motene occupies the offices of the President
of Lesotho Women’s Football Executive Committee and LDF Ladies Team Manager. She is the former National Women’s Football team player. She achieved all those
whilst handling a very demanding military career.Motene mentioned that her main duties in the LDF Ladies team is to manage the team, organise, coordinate and also select the technical team and
ensure the welfare of players and coaches. She further stated that as the President of Lesotho Women’s Football Executive Committee, she also needs to
scout players and ensure that the women league run effectively, saying the other main duty is to improve women football in the country. She added that at
the time when she was elected to be the president there were only 81 women football teams in the county but now there are 318 teams. She added; “Our women
performance level is relatively increasing as we see most women participating in soccer activities, however, we made the campaign in collaboration with LeFA throughout the entire districts to encourage women to form women teams in their respective districts,” she said.
