SA netball champs will get pulses racing

The Nelson Mandela Bay District Netball Association will host the SPAR Senior and U21 National Championships at Young Park from July 9 to 14.

The event will include all the senior women teams from all the districts in South Africa as well as the U21 teams.

The U21 championships will be played simultaneously with the senior champs at the same venue.

The last time Port Elizabeth held the nationals was in 2009.

Durban hosted the event last year and Gauteng district were crowned the champs in the A section.

NMB District Netball Association president Dr Noluntu Dyubhele said it was the first time that both the senior and U21 champs were being held at the same time and venue.

“We are very honoured to be hosts this year. Fans can come and watch the games for free,” Dyubhele said.

Tournament technical affairs convener Reg Sharp said officials were expecting a huge number of players to come through this year.

“There could be up to 15 teams in the U21 and senior champs. The B section will probably have the same number of teams. In the A section we are expecting between 35 and 50 teams at the event,” Sharp said.

Asked which district to look out for, he said: “Things are a little different now because in the last few years the teams played as provinces but now it’s districts.

“In the A section you would usually find the Gauteng teams, Free State, Cape Metro, North West and the dark horses are usually the teams from KwaZulu-Natal.

“The Bay also does reasonably well at district level.”

Sharp said spectators could expect some fine action from SA’s top netball players.

“The A section of the senior championships contain most of the Proteas players who are not playing overseas and the best of the U21 players will also be on display.

“Spectators can expect some pretty good netball, tough matches and certainly some top players.”