New format promises to unearth future stars
PORT ELIZABETH: With so many changes happening in South African netball, one can see that there is a new sheriff in town. Cecilia Molokwane wants to take netball forward and for her to achieve that she has to start at grassroots level.
The 2018 Spar National Netball Championships start today at the Lotto Young Park courts and you will see notable changes.
Teams will no longer play as provincial bodies, but as districts as a way to have access to future Proteas stars.
“We thought of taking netball back to the people. If we want a Bongi Msomi or Shadine van der Merwe, we need to go down there and get them. We can get them at provincial level but we also need to go down to the grassroot level. We can only do that working with our districts that are coming here,” said Molokwane.
“We are grateful to have 87 teams-confirmed to be participating in this tournament. This is the biggest tournament that Netball SA has hosted, with so many teams and districts,” she continued.
Molokwane said the decision to change the Championships format was taken in March and everyone welcomed it.
Molokwane added that NSA has been hungry to have more people showing interest, especially now that South Africa is bidding to host the 2023 World Cup.
“We are bidding against New Zealand who will be celebrating their centenary that year... That doesn’t make us fearful. This is Africa’s time. It will be for the first time we host (if they win) such a big tournament.”
“It will also be the first time in the history of South Africa that we have a female sport host such a big tournament.”
Gauteng A,, the defending champions, will play as Tshwane District this week.
The defending champion coach Jenny van Dyk said she is looking forward to the new format.
“This is a new tournament, a new team and a new opportunity for us to develop our players and to give them much-needed match time. We didn’t come here to come second, so we will definitely play our best,” said van Dyk, who won Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League recently.