Potgieter reaches the heights
Proteas star is plying her trade in the tough New Zealand league.
Lenize Potgieter believes she was destined to be a netball player, but it wasn’t her natural athletic talent or her pinpoint accuracy with a ball in hand which gave her an inevitable nudge at an early age. Initially, she was urged to take up the sport for no other reason than her height.
“I was born a ‘tall-ish’ baby, so of course I grew up to be a tall girl and was put on the netball court immediately,” the 1.88-metre Proteas goalshooter said this week, recalling her introduction to the sport at the age of eight.
Developing her skills on the netball court for nearly two decades at home and abroad, however, she has a lot more to offer these days than her lanky build, and the 24-year-old player has grown into a global star.
Born in Polokwane, Potgieter moved to the capital city as a teenager and went on to study sport science at the University of Pretoria where she competed for Tuks.
After turning out for the Limpopo provincial team at the national championships and the Gauteng Jaguars in the Brutal Fruit Premier League, she made her Proteas debut against Scotland in Cape Town in July 2014.
Quickly becoming a regular fixture in the SA squad, she went on to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Netball World Cup in Sydney the following year.
After showcasing her potential on the international stage, she earned a spot in the Bath club team for the UK Superleague season in 2016, establishing herself as one of only a few professional South African netball players.
A valuable resource up front for any team, Potgieter went on to sign for New Zealand side Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic last year.
Having stood out as the most accurate shooter in the top-flight Kiwi league over the last two seasons, converting 92% of her attempts at goal, she was scooped up by champions Southern Steel for the 2019 campaign.
Maintaining some lofty ambitions, Potgieter hopes to continue playing at the highest level for at least another four years.
She was also eager to compete in the top-flight domestic league in Australia, which was considered perhaps the most competitive league in the game.
“Playing in the Netball World Cup next year (in Liverpool) is a goal,” she said, looking ahead.
“I also have my fingers crossed that I will be able to participate in the next Commonwealth Games (in Birmingham in 2022) and then hopefully get the chance to play in the Suncorp Super League in Australia as well.”
While her career was taking flight on foreign soil, Potgieter felt the state of the sport back home had also improved in recent years.
Though the Proteas continued to struggle against the top teams in the world, they had produced some stunning upsets, climbing to fifth place in the world rankings in the process.
Netball SA had also done well to form the semi-professional Premier League, in order to give local players more game time at elite level and a chance to earn some prize money.
With a handful of players competing in professional leagues overseas, the experience they gained was also valuable when the Proteas squad convened for camps and tournaments, and Potgieter was confident about the future of the sport.
“We are moving up one step at a time, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, so netball becoming a professional sport in SA like cricket and rugby won’t just happen like that,” she said.
“We do, however, get the chance to play overseas and bring back our knowledge to share with the Proteas group which is good.
“We’re getting there, slowly but surely.”