The excitement of the first ever Netball World Cup to be held on African soil is bringing a lot of buzz in South Africa. Thursday, 28 July marks exactly a year before the Spar Proteas will welcome the world in their home for the global competition. The host city, Cape Town has also started launching several legacy projects that will see netball live beyond July 2023, first was the announcement of the Phumza Maweni Foundation Netball Tournament in partnership with the city. The UK based player started playing for a provincial netball team in the Western Cape and quickly became a star for the country.
Spar Proteas centre court player Khanyisa Chawane had a stellar maiden World Cup appearance during the 2019 edition of the global competition. Her performance in the competiton, which saw South Africa finish in the top four for the first time since 2019, saw her earn her first overseas contract with the Vitality Super Cup side, Team Bath.
Hosting the World Cup in Cape Town would be an opportunity for yet another star to break out and make a mark in world netball. Having the competition will be good for growing the sport in the country and it will birth dreams for many aspiring netball players as a lot of scouts from around the world will also have their eyes fixed on the talent that is available in South Africa.
Sikholiwe Mdletshe- Free State Crinums
Centre court player, Sikholiwe Mdletshe cannot contain her excitement for the upcoming tournament. Although Mdletshe missed out on the first round of the 24 contracted players with Netball South Africa, she has donned the green and gold and believes hosting the World Cup is what the sport needs to intensely grow.
“My thoughts about it, it’s amazing. Firstly, I mean it’s a year, now we are actually counting down, literally 365 days to go before the World Cup is in our shores. It’s amazing because it’s expanding netball and it’s continuing showing that netball is one of the biggest sports in South Africa and all around the world right now, whether women or men playing it, it’s a growing sport. It coming to South Africa shows that as continent and as a country we are growing and we are emerging with the times like all the first world countries. For me, it’s really awesome and it also shows what capacity we have to actually host international sporting events. We’ve done the soccer World Cup, the Rugby World Cup and now the Netball World Cup is here.
“My feelings about it, excited. Even if I’m not playing in the team, I know that my friends will be teammates even though they have competitors for a couple of years. Together as a country we can grow the team to a higher level, to a higher standard and that is great. It’s really exciting and I can’t wait to watch the games and see some of the international players coming through,” she says.
Ine-Marie Venter- Saracens Mavericks
Lenize Potgieter’s injury ahead of the Commonwealth Games has shifted the focus to Venter who will be in the shooting circle for the Spar Proteas. Her performance in Birmingham will be important in giving her the confidence for the big one next year.
“Since the World Cup has been announced to be in South Africa, everyone has been excited about it. I know South Africans are really excited for it to be hosted in South Africa. Everyone has been asking about it, where can they buy tickets, when do they start planning and booking. It’s really exciting for us South Africans, for the African continent, for the African teams, for it to be the first World Cup to be held on the African continent. I am looking forward to see what it’s going to look like, I can’t believe it’s almost a year, time goes by so quickly, before we know it it will be the World Cup,” says Venter.
“Hosting a big tournament like the World Cup is always a big deal. It gives the sport a little bit more exposure because the country wants to utilize the tourism about it, the spectacle about it. I think this can be a really good jump start for netball in South Africa in terms of everyone can see what netball can be and hopefully it will give us a chnce to make netball professional in South Africa for teams like (Gauteng) Jaguars, Crinums all those division A teams. I think the girls in South Africa deserve a professional league, they deserve to practice and work as netball players. That is the one way for netball to get better in South Africa,” she adds