The uncertainty surrounding the future of the Netball World Youth Cup will create a gap for young players to experience international netball.
World Netball (WN) announced their global events strategy that will see the Netball World Cup held every two years instead of four and subsequently put a pause on both the World Youth Cup and the Fast5 Netball World Series.
The 2025 World Youth Cup held in Gibraltar was the last one; Canberra was the first city to host the youth tournament in 1988, and there were a total of nine editions of the competition held over the years. South Africa first took part in the competition in the 1996 edition, which was held in Toronto, Canada.
Although South Africa didn’t come back with a medal in the last edition, the Baby Spar Proteas made history by finishing in the top four for the first time.
However, Netball South Africa (NSA) continues to have junior competitions. The 2026 Spar Netball Championships have 39 teams competing for the title. The Johannesburg Under-21 side are the defending champions that are looking for their third consecutive crown at the competition taking place at Stellenberg High School, Cape Town, and ending on 11 August.
LEARNING AND SEEING HEROES
Former Spar Proteas goalkeeper, Phumza Maweni, stresses the importance of having competitions for junior players.
“The under-21 is more like the development team because it is a feeder for the seniors. Having the under-21 compete alongside the seniors is important because they get to learn and see their heroes too. We do need to put more focus on the Under-21 even though we don’t have an international Under-21 competition anymore. There is always a gap for them to compete and contest for a place in the senior teams. All the provinces are looking good and they are hungry to step into the Proteas team,” says Maweni.
The Baby Proteas have seen several good players get promoted to the senior national team, with Karla Victor being the most recent. The midcourt player earned her first cap at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, while Kyla Dames got her maiden cap at last year’s Africa Netball Cup, two months after playing in Gibraltar.
“I think it will be a huge challenge because now we will have a lot of players who are not going to get a chance at a big stage. There used to be the President’s Twelve and now no Under-21 team, so you will now have all these players contesting for a place in the Proteas team. There will not be enough space. I think we need to create a programme where all these players can compete, and now it is going to be so limited. What is going to happen to the players once they get selected?
"We need to draft something so that everyone can get a chance to compete, even on the continent, where the Under-21 and the development players can be combined so they get a platform to compete. We need to keep the team so that we have depth and keep the pathway for the Proteas going,” she explains.
ENSURING PLAYERS ARE NOT LEFT IN LIMBO
Maweni reckons that the federation should work on a plan that will not leave players in limbo.
"In South Africa we have good competitions for the Under-21s, the Spar Champs and the Telkom Netball Championships (TNC) for the Under-18s who then go to the Under-21s. But what happens if nothing is created for them to compete at that level? We can’t just have the Spar Proteas but not have another team below that. However, I think the federation should look into it, on what they can do better or host more tournaments for the Under-21," she says.
National team selectors led by NSA’s Director of Selections Lana Krige will be selecting players at the Championships. Krige says the selection has changed since WN’s announcement of the cancellation and the Under-21 players are now selected as part of the seniors.
"The Spar Championships is the conclusion of our selection for the year. It started with the Telkom Netball League, to the TNC and now it is Spar. We have now covered all the competitions. We are looking for 56, eight per position and because there isn’t the Under-21 World Cup anymore, we are throwing the Under-21s into the seniors. It looks as if WN is looking towards introducing the Under-23s instead of the Under-21s.
"I think it will be more set once WN decide the next step and the competitions will adjust to that. The males have already moved to the Under-23s. We will go into Africa and try set up competitions that are for Under-23s but until that decision is made, the Under-21s will run with the seniors," says Krige.