Picture: Spar Proteas players
By BAKANG MOKOTO
8 December 2024- The SPAR Proteas will begin their final assignment of the year in Swakopmund, Namibia on Monday as they take on the best of the continent at the Africa Netball Cup. The South Africans have been drawn in Pool 1 for the December 9-14 tournament alongside the team they recently just beat 3-0 in a home series, Malawi, as well as Zambia and Kenya.
Pool 2 contains world number six Uganda, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Eswatini and Lesotho.
The SPAR Proteas Head Coach, Jenny van Dyk said playing against African sides is by no means an easy task. Van Dyk said Uganda have become one of the powerhouses on the continent in recent years and we predict that her side is likely to meet the She Cranes in the Africa Netball Cup final next Saturday.
“We are very aware of Uganda, we respect them as a team and they’ve done brilliantly,” she said before the team’s departure.
“It’s a team that you beat once and the next time they come back with a vengeance and we are very aware of that… We are making sure to do our homework,” she said.
Van Dyk further said the last time the two nations met was at the Netball World Cup in Cape Town last year, where the SPAR Proteas beat Uganda. She added that She Cranes then bounced back to defeat the home side later in the tournament to secure 5th place.
Captain Khanyisa Chawane believes that’s unlikely to happen again.
“I think it’s more mental than anything because of what they’ve done. You can really fall into a hole of thinking that it’s quite difficult. But it’s not a team to fear,” she said.
“It’s a team that we’ve beaten before and yes, they may have the confidence that they’ve done it before, but they don’t know the type of team that we are now and we take confidence in that, especially in how strong our team are and how we’ve grown from the World Cup until now,” she said.
Chawane said she is looking forward to going out there and giving them something different that they don’t expect.
Meanwhile, the SPAR Proteas vice-captain, Karla Pretorious believes the Africa Netball Cup will provide her side with valuable experience of playing teams on the continent, who have a completely different style to the likes of the top four teams in the world, Australia, England, New Zealand, and Jamaica.
“That African style of athleticism and the fact that they never stop, which is very unique to us African players, is something that’s always been a challenge. But we’re fully aware of it. It’s about how we do our homework and execute the game plan,” she said.
The Guardian 