The Mpumalanga leg of the DStv Schools Netball Challenge produced explosive results in search of the top three schools to represent the province in the next leg of the competition.
Unlike the other provinces, Mpumalanga are hosting the provincial finals streams separately. Botho was the first, with the Ubuntu section only being set for 23 June at Hoërskool Middelburg. The DSNC is divided into two streams, Ubuntu and Botho (rural and urban areas), to give both an opportunity to play at the same level.
Sixteen Botho schools took to the court and Hoërskool Nelspruit, Middies and Hoër Tegniese Skool Middelburg made it to the top and will be heading to the nationals to represent the province against the nine other provinces in Concordia, Johannesburg on 8-9 August.
HSN beat Middies to the gold medal in a highly contested match while HTS defeated Hoerskool Secunda in the bronze medal match to get the final spot. The top four teams started the competition strong and dominated from the group stages, where they all finished top in their pools and eased through until the medal matches.
Secondary School Convenor, Sumari Herbst says she was impressed by how the province managed to host a great spectacle.
“It’s a new thing for us playing in these divisions and playing it out, it went very well. I think we gave the smaller schools the opportunity to actually see how netball plays in bigger schools and gave them the opportunity to play against the bigger schools that they don’t usually get to play against,” says Herbst.
“I can actually say that the top three teams could have easily won the competition. All of them had a great time on the court and some of the matches had TNL (Telkom Netball League) empires umpiring on them. Even the empires were impressed by the level of the netball played by our schools. I think we have good schools to represent us at the nationals,” she adds.
Herbst says the schools in the province will continue being active in other competitions leading to the nationals to make sure that they are in top shape when August comes.