Local netball mourns Malawian coach

Botswana Netball Association (BONA) is mourning the passing of Malawian coach, Griffin Saenda, who died this past week, following a courageous battle against diabetes. Saenda, who is a well- known coach of repute in his native Malawi and African continent died on Thursday 26th of November.

In 2018 Saenda flew into Botswana to help BONA with the senior national team selections for the squad which was bound for Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers in Zambia. This was the beginning of a good relationship between him and the local netball governing body.

At that time there were issues of mistrust between individual players and member clubs over player selections since there was no netball action.

With the association seeking someone with no relation with players and clubs

BONA opted for Saenda. Though he assembled the team, it was subsequently led by Dorette Badenhorst and Julene Meyer to the qualifiers as he (Saenda) returned to his country.

“We are just sad because Malawi lost a father, he was not just a coach, he was a pillar of strength for them, a mentor to developing countries. His presence gave everybody courage that it is possible. I remember at the World Cup when he was not well but just knowing he was watching gave Malawi courage to fight to the last match. But we don’t have control, he did his part and completed his race and somebody will surely carry them through and the players will carry his vision to keep Malawi in good rankings,” said BONA president, Malebo Raditladi. Saenda has been described as a brave coach who dedicate his time and efforts to the Malawian national team as well as other elite clubs in the country. He is credited for Malawi’s 2016 historic feat when they won a bronze medal at the Fast5 Netball Series. At the time of his untimely demise, Saenda was the headcoach and technical director of Kukoma Diamonds in Malawi. According to Raditladi, following Saenda’ successful selections, he became their top priority to bring him to manage the team full time but due to financial challenges they couldn’t land his signature.

Raditladi further shared that coach Saenda was a great link between them and Netball Association of Malawi (NAM), something they will always be grateful for.”He helped us to seal the good relationship with Malawi; we also agreed in principle to have exchange games to boost our team performances for under 21 and senior teams. And we were just in discussions on how we will do it when corona virus struck,”said Raditladi.

In one of his stellar achievements Saenda led The “Queens” as Malawian national netball team is known to position 5 in the International Netball Federation (INF) World rankings as well as first position in the African rankings.

DEARLY DEPARTED: Malawian netball coach Griffin Saenda has died in his native country