Leemisa Thuseho
THE Lesotho Volleyball Association (LVA) will this week stage a four-day Level I National Refereeing Course at the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC).
The course, which starts tomorrow and ends on Thursday, is being financed by the Lesotho Sport and Recreation Commission (LSRC). It will be facilitated by Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) instructor Waleed Mohammed Kabel from Qatar.
LVA secretary general Sebolelo Ntlhokoe told the Sunday Express that the course is meant to prepare the officials for the upcoming African Union Sport Council (AUSC) Region 5 Games penned in for December 2020.
“We are expected to provide the games with 25 referees but now we only have one international referee and four national referees,” Ntlhokoe said.
She said they are expecting 20 participants for the course of which two will be from South Africa.
According to Ntlhokoe, having qualified referees will not only help in the AUSC Games but even in their domestic league games and tournaments.
“Even when our teams had to go for international tournaments like the African Zone 6 Championship, they were forced to hire qualified referees,” added Ntlhokoe.
Apart from the refereeing course, Ntlhokoe said they are looking forward to holding two-day trials where they will select under-20 teams to represent Lesotho during the AUSC Games.
The trials will be on Saturday and Sunday at Lerotholi Polytechnic in Maseru.
“As part of the preparations for the Region 5 Games, we will also hold trials to aid our team selection and we expect to trim the players who were scouted during last year’s Lesotho Institution Sport Association (LISA) ball games. However, even those who were seen at LISA games are welcome to attend the trials,” said Ntlhokoe.
Ntlhokoe also revealed that LVA National league for the year 2020 will start on the 28th March at a venue to be communicated in the due course.