New coach aims to net Cup credits
NEWLY appointed Proteas netball coach, Norma Plummer, has had less than a month of court time with her team ahead of this week’s Netball World Cup in Sydney.
She recently took the team to New Zealand, where they lost both Tests.
But this Australian coaching legend has a sparkle in her eye and a smile on her face as the world’s best netball teams gather at the Sydney Olympic Park.
“I can’t wait for it to start now,” says Plummer. As a veteran of the game who played for and captained Australia and then coached them to World Championship glory in 2007 and 2011, this is the kind of pressure Plummer lives for.
“I’m very excited. Look, I wish I had four years with this team instead of three weeks. But this is an intelligent bunch of players and they’ve learnt a lot in a short time,” she says.
For Plummer, it’s not so much about outcomes as it is about taking a team of talented individuals and raising them to world standard — the standard at which she believes they are capable of playing. That’s why the Test defeats against New Zealand as preparation for this World Cup don’t bother her too much.
“For me it was about putting them under pressure. You need to have the intensity and they needed those games before their first match in a World Cup. I think in the first game against New Zealand, the Ferns realised we were there for a reason and it was excellent to see that we’d shortened the gap between us. Casey Williams, arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, said she was well beaten by our goal shooter Lenize Potgieter in the first Test. I was delighted by that.”
Captain Maryka Holtzhausen also believes the two Tests against New Zealand were perfect preparation for this World Cup.
“It was good for the team to experience the kind of pressure situations we will come up against in a World Cup by playing the world number two team. And I think we handled it well against New Zealand, especially in the first Test. Now it’s just about us keeping the intensity for a full 60 minutes.”
Intensity is Plummer’s speciality. She’s known as a hard-edged coach who gets results, and she’s already improved this team significantly.
They beat the best in Africa when they won the recent Diamond Challenge, and climbed to fifth in the world just before this World Cup.
They play archrivals Malawi in their World Cup opener at the Allphones Arena today and expect a backlash after having beaten them twice in the Diamond Challenge and knocking them off the world number five ranking.
“Malawi will want to go up another gear. They’ve got a few players back that weren’t at the Diamond Challenge. But we’ve also had some more time together as a team. We can go out there feeling confident and really take it up to them,” says Plummer.
The new coach has spent the past few days in Sydney working on basic skills.
“I’ve put the pressure on them as to how they handle the ball. Sometimes I think they’ve been wasteful with it and just chucked it away.
“We’ve focused on placing and passing the ball well under pressure. I’ve focused on teaching them about space awareness on court and not just running everywhere,” she says.
It’s going to be a tough ask for the Proteas against the best in the world, led by Australia, New Zealand, England and Jamaica. “It will be tough, but I just love the competition,” says Plummer, with a wry smile.