The country's junior Fast5 side emulated the senior team and clinched the silver medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago in just less than a year.
The 2023 edition of the competition was the first time netball has been featured in the competition, only eight countries took part.
The Proteas Fast5 side brought back home a silver medal from the Fast5 Netball World Series tournament which took place in New Zealand late last year.
South Africa faced Australia in the final of the Games and the Emily Mathosa-led side only fell on the last hurdle of the competition and walked away as runners-up.
“Personally, it was a good experience for me and I think it was a good experience for the players as well because they had never featured in the Commonwealth (Games). It is good that we got to win and came back home with a medal and a bit of experience. It is something that we can talk about, especially being featured in the first netball tournament of the Youth Games. I think it was good for all of us,” says Mathosa.
Mathosa says her players had a good account of themselves at the tournament and that she has also grown as a coach.
“I think there was pressure when we got there, there wasn’t any when we were still at home because we didn’t know who we would be up against. Also, we didn’t know how good the Under-17s from other countries were so we went into the Games knowing very well that we are ready. Our first game was against England and we needed to make sure that we win that game in order for us to be able to secure a semifinal spot.
I am glad that we started well with England, we won because had we lost that game, we were not going to be able to play the in semifinals. We did well by starting well, it was a confidence booster for the girls. When we got there we had training (matches) against the likes of Scotland and other teams, just not England because we didn’t want them to see how we train as we were going to face them in our first match,” she says.
Mathosa together with coach Jenny van Dyk held a selection camp in June where they picked the players for the competition. A bulk of the players competed in several competitions, including the Telkom Netball Championship and the DSTV Schools Netball Challenge which prepared them and made them match fit for the international competition.
“It was not that challenging because the girls have Fast5 challenge at the school level. They knew what they are up against, they knew the rules and they knew what was expected of them. It was just them having us with a different coaching style and also getting to a different level because school and national levels are two different things, at this level we expect professionalism. Even though you are a child, we don’t coach who you are we coach who we want you to be. I believe the girls were ready and they are good players. They are not just young but they are players that can keep playing for a long time. We are happy that they all managed to get some court time as well,” she says.
Although the junior team had a stellar competition, they were not able to win the gold in the final. Mathosa reckons nerves got the better of her team against Australia in the finals and were not able to recover.
“I think nerves crept in a bit. It was the first time that most of them played in a stadium that had over 10 000 spectators, others it was their first experience playing in a final. I also think Australia studied us because they had a chance to watch our games and they knew who our two-pointer or our three-pointer were. I think that is the reason why we couldn’t match up but the girls really played well, we just fell short. If we had a little bit more time, we would have turned things around,” she explains.
The Tshwane University of Technology coach is having a dream 2023. Not only did she help guide the Limpopo Baobabs to their first-ever Telkom Netball League Division Two final but she successfully got the team promoted to the elite stream of the competition. Making the finals of the Youth Games is an indication that Mathosa’s star is on the rise.
“The Commonwealth is a big thing, it’s not like the TNL. It’s international level. I am happy that I got the opportunity to go with the girls. I am grateful that Netball SA gave me the opportunity to be the head coach. My name is still on the rise but maybe a lot of people don’t know much about me. I think I was given the opportunity at the right time, I think doors are opening. I had been trying to apply for coaching opportunities but I was being rejected. But I wasn’t going to give up, I continued to try and try again. I am glad that my teams are doing well and it shows that my work is not going down the drain. The girls are responding well, whether it’s the TN