Expanded netball event starts in Bay
There will be many surprises and a lot of excitement at this year’s SPAR Women’s Netball National Championships, says Netball South Africa president Cecilia Molokwane.
The tournament, which kicks off on Monday and finishes on Friday, is being held at the Young Park netball courts and will comprise 87 teams.
The format of the event has changed from previous years when teams were grouped into one provincial team entering the competition. This year they will represents districts instead.
Molokwane said this was the biggest event for the championship thus far.
“We have gone back to the districts now. If it was provinces we would have about 21 teams, but now we have 87.
“So we are expecting a lot of challenge on the court because the team that used to be Gauteng is divided into four districts.
“By doing this we are giving more players an opportunity to play. If we want to find the next Bongiwe Msomi or Shadine van der Merwe, we have to make sure that we go to the districts and get them,” Molokwane said.
“This is the best way for talent identification, because if we were using the old style, Limpopo, for example, would only come with one senior team and one under-21 team.
“They have five districts now with two teams in each district, a senior team and an under-21 team, and in total they have 10 teams here.
“Now we have more players to select. We are taking netball back to the people and we want to capacitate people.
“We can only do this by having these numbers and making netball known.”
Shadine van der Merwe, the captain of defending champions Gauteng A, said the new twist to the event would make the competition more difficult.
“I am looking forward to great netball overall because we are so used to regions, we know all the players. Now we are not sure which district some of the players will play for,” she said.
“But we are confident that we will defend our title. We work hard and our preparations going into this tournament were good.”
Defending under-21 Championships North West Flames coach Edelweiss Calitz said she was lucky 90% of her squad from last year’s team came from the Doctor Kenneth Kaunda district, which they will represent this week.
“We are ready and we have set our goals right,” she said. “I am very excited about my team – they are well trained and fit.”
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