Welabasha Secondary School will be hoping to defy all odds when they take to the court at the DSTV Schools Netball Challenge national finals. The rural Empangeni School is one of three KwaZulu Natal schools that will represent the province at the national competition set for 8-9 August at Hoërskool Dr. E.G. Jansen, Johannesburg.
The school from the King Cetshwayo district will compete in the Ubuntu stream while the other two KZN representatives, Alexandra High School and Kingsway High will play in the Botho division. Welabasha is a non-fee paying school from the village KwaMthethwa in Empangeni about 157 kilometres north of Durban.
The flooding early in the year prompted the school to organise accommodation for the players to stay closer to the school so they would be able to prepare and train adequately for the provincial competition. The school wanted to make the usual commute which takes up to almost an hour easier.
“It was very difficult but we tried because we knew that the competition was going to be tough. We tried by all means and brought the kids closer to the school so that we could be able to train,” says Welabasha team manager, Akhona Mkhize.
“We asked their parents’ permission to have them closer to the schools. There are places where we could rent which are located close to the school. The principal made sure that the accommodation was paid for. Luckily none of the kids or their relatives were directly affected by the floods. People locked themselves in their homes because we knew of the floods and we were receiving the flood alerts,” adds Mkhize.
KwaZulu Natal missed the inaugural DSNC due to the riots that engulfed the province last year, Mkhize is confident the teams will walk away as winners.
“The tournament will expose the kids to a lot of things and it will broaden their minds, meeting kids from other places will also give them a chance to share their experiences. It won’t end with just the netball but they will learn other things too. They will benefit a lot. The KwaZulu Natal schools are going to win the competition. We are well trained, we train every day,” she says.