NETBALL TEAM PUMPED UP FOR COSANA GAMES

The SPAR national netball team set off today (Monday) for Blantyre in Malawi for the annual Cosana Games.

The team has been attending a training camp at Rolaka Ranch – a netball training facility near Brits in North West Province. The camp has given their new coach, Burta de Kock, an opportunity to spend some time with the team and to determine their strengths and weaknesses. The team has been under considerable pressure this year – they under- performed at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, even losing to Malawi, ranked well below South Africa internationally. On a recent tour of Fiji, South Africa managed just one win out of three, and then went on to lose very heavily to world champions New Zealand.

De Kock believes the spirit in the team is very good, and that they have regained their passion for netball. “There is a tremendous feeling of unity in the squad, and they have been working very hard,” she said. “We decided to go back to basics, and do a lot of drills. They seem to be very aware of what they need to do to get back to their old winning ways. They all seem to be enjoying themselves, and have developed a tremendous trust in one another.”

She said they had not yet talked about the match against Malawi, but would scrutinize the video of their match at the Commonwealth Games to see where they had gone wrong.

“But Malawi is not the only team at the Cosana Games,” said De Kock. “There are other teams that we have to look out for, and we are not taking anything for granted. We will need to focus on our own game plans. But we are determined to come back with the gold medal. Nothing else will be acceptable.”

The Cosana Games will be played at the Malawi Youth Centre in Blantyre from Wednesday September 13, with the final being played on Saturday September 16. The teams taking part are Botswana, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.