Netball South Africa president, Cecilia Molokwane is hoping the Spar Proteas will take a leaf out of the Momentum Proteas book at the upcoming Vitality Netball World Cup.
The world will descend to South Africa in just over three months for the 16-team global spectacle which will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 28 July to 6 August.
The senior women’s cricket side had a splendid campaign at this year’s T20 World Cup, the Hilton Moreeng led side made history by being the first South African side to reach a World Cup T20 final and they took the silver medal for their efforts. This, Molokwane says, should be the motivation the Spar Proteas need to better their 2019 World Cup exploits.
The Proteas finished in the top four of the competition for the first time since 1995 where they took home the silver medal.
Molokwane says she’s confident the team can achieve this feat.
“I think we made them forget about the Commonwealth Games when we drew against England in the Quad Series. It shows that the girls have the capabilities, it says a lot.
I always say a happy team is a winning team and I saw a bunch of happy players, players that are willing to fly the country’s flag high. I mean, they are under pressure.
The cricket girls did well on home soil. If the cricket girls could come home with a medal, what are the Spar Proteas coming home with? That is my question to them and the coach.
I don’t think it’s only my question, it’s a South African question to them. The last medal we had at the World Championships was in 1995, they need to kill that,” says Molokwane.
“They need to change the narrative and they have the capabilities. These camps have helped so much and I have seen most of them working hard. The most important thing is the mindset, the mindset of the players is key. Once they put it in their minds that they can do it, they shall do it,” she adds.
The senior national team has been preparing for the World Cup since the start of the year. They started with the Quad Series in January before heading to Australia for a training camp for South African based players.
The Proteas also spent over three weeks at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport for another training camp which saw them play against Western Cape’s Southern Stings as part of the training. They will return to their last training camp in May leading to the World Cup.
Molokwane is confident that all is going according to plan for the competition.
“It’s for the first time that I am seeing the Proteas being supported the way they are, they are under Project Victory. They have got all the things that I wish I had during my time (as a player), they have got a nutritionist, a psychologist Biokineticist, a scientist.
They are well supported, they have everything you can think of that a team should have to be prepared. That is why we made sure that we take care of each one of them because when you are well taken care of you will play well and make the right decisions. They know that they are under pressure however, mentality is something that we are taking care of.
“They are at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport where there is everything you can ever think of. We are paying for everything there, so they get everything when it comes to preparing and valuing them. These players are carrying the hopes of the country, not only of netball people but the country.
We want them, to make sure that as they carry the hopes of the country, they are well taken care of,” she says.
Proteas assistant coach, Dumisani Chauke is also happy with the team's progress following the intense work in the last few camps.
“The preparations are going quite well, we recently had a month long camp in Stellenbosch. We are looking forward to seeing our girls playing in the TNL, we do have some of our national players in the Super League and Karla (Pretorius) down in the Suncorp (Super League) in Australia.
So all our girls in the squad are out there and playing and that is what we want to see because when we come back in May for our final training camp, that is where we will choose the final team. As a coach, you’re never satisfied with what the girls are doing, you always want something and to get better and better.
One thing we are working towards is decreasing the error rate and the turnovers that we concede, we are constantly working on decreasing that,” says Chauke.
Molokwane assures that South Africa is ready to host the World Cup.
“We are ready even though we started on a bad note because of Covid, which took us back with a lot of things but we are running like cheetahs to make sure that we don’t disappoint,” she says.