The year 2023 has since been regarded as the “year for women”, with South African female national teams taking part in some of the biggest global tournaments.
At the back of the announcement by Discovery of a three-year sponsorship deal with Netball SA as the official wellness partner to the Spar Proteas, and Vitality as the title partner of the Netball World Cup last week Thursday, tournament director Priscilla Masisi said that corporates coming on board will not only empower young girls but go as far as benefiting the nation.
“I think it will go a very long way, because if you empower a girl child, you are empowering the nation,” said Masisi.
“And you get your girl children in the right direction, our society will improve because women have that strength of direction and focus their energy on the right direction and instilling positive attitudes.
“So, I think if you empower a girl child, you are basically empowering the nation. So, it will be very important if our sponsors, partners, and businesses can come on and support sports in this country.
Masisi went on to emphasise the importance of development in schools, saying that a lot more still needs to be done at grassroot level.
“I think we still have a long way to go, remember school sport is the bedrock,” Masisi said.
“So, I think we need to get to a point whereby we go back to those days where we have sports days on Wednesdays and run interschool competitions, those things are very important, we need to go back to those grassroot developments, grassroots are also about school sport. We need to go back to those basics.”
Currently, the Momentum Proteas are battling it out in the ICC T20 World Cup held in SA, while the U-19 cricket squad participated in the Cricket World Cup earlier this year.
Banyana Banyana, the reigning Women’s Africa Cup of Nations champions, will be tested at the biggest stage when they challenge for the Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand from July 20, which will be followed by the Vitality Netball World Cup in July 28, where the Spar Proteas will be expected to deliver on home soil.
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