Push to get more Indian netball players
NISHA Rupnarain, the manager of the South African netball team currently involved in an international tournament, has had a ringside seat to scintillating action over the last week.
Her team is doing battle in Durban against some of netball’s superpowers in the Sanzea Quad Series, which includes Australia, New Zealand and England.
The teams head to London’s Wembley Arena today for the next leg of the competition.
While the SA team are no pushovers and are currently ranked fifth in the world, Rupnarain hoped there could have been a player of Indian origin in her squad of 12 players.
But the reality was that there were none, not even on the fringes, pushing to be called to the national team, in the near future.
For Rupnarain, that is a sad indictment of a community that once excelled in netball.
Rupnarain is a sterling example of a player who achieved great things in the sport, in spite of not being exposed to proper coaching and facilities.
She started playing competitively in the 1980s, eventually captained the KZN team, and played in numerous national championships.
Rupnarain, who has also distinguished herself as an administrator over the years, believes that, apart from various other challenges, the dwindling crop of Indian players involved in the game are not fired up enough to reach the highest levels.
“I would love to see Indian players playing for our country, and they have the talent and capacity to do so, but they lack the commitment, perseverance and desire to reach the top.
Other factors affecting Indian players were the lack of support from parents, she said, with youngsters forced to concentrate on achieving academic success rather than waste time with sport.
In the greater Durban area, Chatsworth has always had a thriving netball league with as many as 500 Indian female players involved competitively in the past.
Rupnarain said Chatsworth’s leagues still ranked as one of the more vibrant in the country but the number of players involved had dropped drastically with time.
Mala Moonsamy, who has had more than 30 years of involvement in Chatsworth netball, agreed that Indian females had lost the zeal for the game.
“Besides playing the game, I’ve run my club (Woodhurst) with my sister Jane for a long time.
“Ten years ago, we had about 100 players in seven teams playing in the Chatsworth Netball Association (CNA) structures.
“We have only two teams for the new season,” Moonsamy said, citing a lack of sponsorship as a debilitating factor.
“My sister and I are forced to transport players. Parents are either not available or are not able to afford to fetch and drop their children from matches or training sessions,” she said.
CNA president Maggie Govender said there was hope of turning the situation around, especially since the eThekwini Netball Association and Netball SA had included Chatsworth in their coaching development programmes in recent years.
“Previously girls were not given proper coaching, but recently we have had some coaches fully accredited by Netball SA.
“Having qualified coaches will be a big bonus for the game,” said Govender.
She said another area CNA focused on was getting girls to play beyond the 13-year age level.
“We have addressed that issue and I believe that our girls will soon be playing at the top levels again.”