The University of Johannesburg (UJ) proved dominant at the recent University Sport South Africa (USSA) Netball Championships.
A total of 54 women's and men's teams gathered at the Central University of Technology (CUT), Bloemfontein Campus to battle for the coveted title of tertiary champions.
UJ’s senior women’s and men’s teams successfully defended their titles as they were crowned back-to-back champions in their respective sections.
The Bongiwe Msomi-led side defeated the University of Pretoria (UP-Tuks) 50-39 to reclaim the top of the podium and record their second gold medal in the competition.
𝐔𝐒𝐒𝐀 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔
— UJ Sport (@UJ_Sport) July 3, 2026
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒!🥇🏆
Following in the footsteps of the male counterparts! The @NetballUj Ladies clinch yet another @USSAstudent Netball title in the City of Roses, following a stellar performance against.
Cont.👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/bHEBJK1OzJ
While Nkanyiso Yeni steered the men’s team over the line against the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) for their second title as well since the men’s division was introduced in 2024.
They won their closely contested final 54-50. TUT are only the other men’s team to have won the men’s division in the inaugural year.
𝐔𝐒𝐒𝐀 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔
— UJ Sport (@UJ_Sport) July 3, 2026
UJ Males 5️⃣4️⃣–5️⃣0️⃣ TUT
The Orange Army held their nerve in a thrilling final to overcome TUT and be crowned 2026 USSA Men's Netball Champions. An unbeaten tournament, capped off with a championship performance. pic.twitter.com/sMqvYnxhqU
The UJ women’s B side didn’t want to be counted out of a podium finish. They walked away with the silver medal after losing to STADIO Higher Education 34-32 in the final in their division.
UJ Netball head coach, Msomi, says the university went to the competition believing that they will be able to defend their titles.
“I think this year we were quite intentional about going back-to-back and being USSA champions. It was purely because we have a number of senior players in the group. We are in a different phase (as UJ) and next year we will kind of start from scratch because some of the seniors are leaving this year. When I joined UJ, we knew that at a certain phase we should be able to take on big tournaments and win. Last year we won but I don’t think we had that confidence that we are but this year we said this is the one that we need to train like we are going to take.
"We have always been a group that is realistic, we make plans according to what is presented to us and we thought the plans were pointing to us taking it. We had prepared well for it. We wanted to get to the podium, any medal for all three teams but for UJ 1 and males had to be gold,” says Msomi.
WINNING CULTURE
Boitumelo Mahloko is one of the senior players that will be leaving UJ at the end of the year, paving the way for a new generation at the university. Msomi says they have already begun introducing younger players in the squad who will pick up where the seniors are leaving off.
“We had senior players there who could finish off when we needed them to finish off the big games. But we had such great junior players who took court as well to save legs. I think next year it might not be as difficult as it was when I started because as some players are phased out, it is not all of them that leave. We do have some of the senior players who will remain which is going to be a nice balance with the juniors who have already played at USSAs this year. The players that are being phased out are players that feel they have done all they could for the club and it is time for us to reflect what we are without those players. I think we got spoilt over the years with talent that has done so well for the club but we are now hungry to introduce new faces and recreate what the club is about,” she says.
The Orange Army women’s A won four matches on their way to the gold medal. They defeated UP-Tuks twice, first in the group stages and the final. The North West University are the only side to hand UJ a beating at the competition.
They beat the Auckland Park-based side in the group stages but failed to repeat the feat in the semifinal.
Msomi says the institution has been working on building a winning culture throughout the netball club and not just the senior team.
“Over the years we have tried to build a culture of winning, previously we were just happy to be part of the teams to compete. I think we have gotten to a stage where we feel we are almost there. We have fallen short a couple of times, every now and then we would play in the final but we would be second. Last year was a big one for us to take and this year we were set in terms of every team that goes to USSA must finish like we did this year. It is such a great time for the university to not only do it with one team but to assure the club that we have got good structures,” she explains.