Just like the stars of the dawn and the sunshine on a blazing hot day, the future of the Spar Proteas is looking bright under the tutelage of coach Jenny van Dyk and her assistant Zanele Mdodana.
The Proteas finally returned to home soil early this week following a month of mixed emotions and, overall, an inspiring international tour in Jamaica and England.
South Africa fell short in the final of the Netball Nations Cup against England, where they lost 61-55 last Sunday. Before that, they were out in the smouldering Caribbean Sea, where they lost a Test Series 3-0 at the hands of Jamaica.
Despite the outcome of both the Series and Nations Cup, there are a lot of positives that came out of the Proteas’ performances. For instance, they went pound-for-pound against two of the top-four-ranked netball teams in the world and gave them a good run for their money.
There was no match where South Africa did not put up a good fight against Jamaica and England. All matches that they lost ended in fine margins.
Upon their arrival at the OR Tambo International Airport, Van Dyk, flanked by Netball SA president Cecilia Molokwane and her marque player Kamogelo Maseko, said that their first international tour as a team showed good signs that they are headed in the right direction. Tarle Mathe is another promising talent in the team.
“There are a lot of good signs that I saw from the team during this tour but for me and my team in terms of what we want to achieve, we always keep the bigger picture in mind,” Van Dyk said.
“We are not happy with our performance in the Nations Cup final because we wanted to win. But it’s not just about winning, it’s also about the standard of play that we put on the court. It’s a process for us. We won’t get everything right from the start and then where do we go from there?
“So, we need to learn through some of the errors that we make to test our combinations and to test the depth within our squad and to also see whether we are working with the right bunch of players.
“Now, I can tell you that the core group is solid and they’re strong and they have responded so well. But for us, it’s the bigger picture that keeps us and gives us that confidence.”
