Proteas do their bit

NATIONAL assistant coach Chauke Dumisani and Proteas shooter Lenize Potgieter have led Netball South Africa’s charge on spreading the coronavirus message while offering online support to help players stay healthy.

Dumisani uses her Twitter account for daily ‘Coaching From Home’ posts for netballers to stay active during lockdown.

Apart from the locally-based national squad members, Dumisani is also reaching out to Proteas who are in England, Australia and New Zealand where they have professional contracts.

The enforced isolation has impacted on every aspect of life. Many have found it stressful and have battled to cope with challenges daily.

“Yes, it’s disastrous because people are losing lives. We’ve got to stay positive and allow it to teach us how to take care of ourselves, take care of each other and realise that we are all connected, we are all one and that is the circle of life itself,” said Dumisani.

“Hence, I keep preaching the message of staying positive, staying active, staying motivated, staying inspired, staying empowered.

“If you’re not any of those things you’re going to lose track and by the time it’s time to go back to the sports field you would still be needing to do some catch-up where your competitors have been sitting at home, training, preparing, making sure that they stay in the game.

“Try and look for motivation to stay fit because if you don’t do that you’re going to have a big price to pay when the season resumes.”

Potgieter has been plying her trade with the Thunderbirds in Netball Australia’s Super League and after the competition was suspended, she managed to return to South Africa ahead of the 21-day national lockdown.

Her Proteas teammate at Thunderbirds Shadine van der Merwe also returned to South Africa.

Potgieter has joined the ‘#KickCovid19Out’ campaign and has a poster on her Instagram account. The campaign is helping to share facts about the pandemic.

Potgieter is also sharing her workout programmes that will help her to stay physically fit during lockdown.

South Africa is presently in fifth place on the latest world rankings of the International Netball Federation.