Mpumalanga Sunbirds’ look to continue winning ways

Mpumalanga Sunbirds’ Tumelo Nkoe says the team is continuing where it left of in the 2022 TelNetball League season. The Thembi Mdluli led side reached the finals of the competition for the first time last year. They lost in the final to the Eastern Cape Aloes and took the silver medal for the first time since the competition started.

Nkoe says the team is working to return to the finals yet again but this time, they are hoping to clinch the goal medal.

“After we got bronze (2021) we realised that we could actually do this. We just needed to work extra hard on combinations and work out a bit more but getting on the podium is what pushed us a little more. We are hoping for gold this year, obviously if we get gold, we will play in the relegation match. Look, whatever happens there I am okay with it. I am just looking for the gold now,” she says.

Sunbirds have started the new season on a good note, they are one of three teams that have not lost a match in Division Two of the TNL. They have won two of their three matches in the opening round of the competitiom. They defeated both the KwaZulu Natal Kingdom Queens and newcomers Limpopo Lilies, they were held to a 32-all draw by the Eastern Cape Comets.

Nkoe, however, understands that their run to the top will be a lot harder this season as they are no longer perceived a small team in the league.

“It’s a bit harder now because everybody knows what we are capable of and I feel like everybody is gunning for us now but we are taking it one game at a time. It shouldn’t really matter who we are playing but we need to be consistent with what we are doing and follow what the coach says we must do. We are going to take every game as important as the next,” she says.

Players in this team come from different parts of the province, while others are based in Gauteng, having training sessions with the whole team doesn’t seem to be a luxury that they have. Nkoe stresses the importance of discipline and being committed to the team’s goals as what makes them a team determined to make a name for itself.

“We are scattered but we were given training programmes or workouts and what we should do. This is for the whole team and also for the defence and attack. The coach would send us some of those (programmes) to do on our own and obviously if you do play (for) any another netball (team), it’s great. It’s even better to be on court but if not, we get training camps on the weekends, that is when everybody comes together.

It is a bit difficult because ideally, we would like to play together all the time. It’s one thing to work on your own and then go play with other people but when you come back to your team, it’s different. You’re not doing what you guys need to do as a team because you have been playing with other people that play a different style. It does become a little more difficult, it means extra work from us as well but because we want it so much, we will put in the work,” she says.

The expansion of the TNL and the contracting of the 24 players in the Spar Proteas system is one way that indicates that Netball South Africa is taking its first steps towards professionalising the sport. Nkoe is hopeful that the next generations will be able to reap the fruits of sport.

“We’re on the right path, the president has done an amazing job in making sure she secures sponsorship so the girls can actually get paid. It’s going to take a bit of time to be on par with the other nations but I feel like we are on the right path. We are also paving the way for the next generation. Even if it doesn’t happen for us now, I feel like the coming two or three generations will have it better. Even better than what we’re having I feel Telkom has done amazing work for netball as a whole and the fact that we are so many now, that means there is more talent coming to challenge. It’s even more challenging for us because it's not like playing someone you know, there’s extra people. People with more energy, a younger generation, it pushes us older ladies who have been playing. We work extra hard now because there are young people who run faster, they probably jump twice as much. But it’s a great opportunity for a lot more girls can experience netball at this level,” she says.