Players now eye netball champs
While league appears cancelled, there is hope
Not a single hoop has been made this year in the Chris Hani netball league, but while the season appears to be cancelled, players now have the SPAR championships to look forward to.
Dates for the premier event have been moved from August to December, while the junior championships have been moved to September and the male championships to November.
Chris Hani region convener of events, Nicolene van Schalkwyk, said they were disappointed at the possibility of the season being cancelled, however, the focus now was on preparing for the championships.
We received the revised “ competition calendar from Netball South Africa [NSA] along with guidelines and requirements for how competitions are to resume if we get back on the court. It seems very unlikely we “will have league this year, however. Expectations are that we “might resume under level 2. We need to do well at the “championships. Performances there “determine how a league is rated, and currently we are classified as a B league.
Losing the year has been a “setback because we wanted more of our players in the Proteas setup for the 2023 World Cup.
A league players always get “first priority for selection,” she said.
If the season got the green light, Van Schalkwyk said districts were more likely to host competitions between themselves.
Every year we have had “competitions like the mayoral cups where teams from the districts competed against each other.
This year we are likely to “have competitions between districts before the championships.”
Before going to the Cape Winelands for the SPAR championships, the districts will have to host their own internal trials.
Players are training within “the current confines of lockdown and social distancing,” she said.
We hope to host trials “soon.”