Johannesburg – Fresh from their successful tour of Ireland and Northern Ireland, Dorette Badenhorst’s charges, the SPAR Proteas will be heading to Namibia where they will be hoping to defend their title as African champions.
The South African netball team won the title back in 2019 after a nine year absence from the tournament.
This tournament is very special for the coaching duo of Dorette Badenhorst and Dumisani Chauke as this was their first assignment after being appointed as head coach and Assistant Coach respectively in October of 2019.
The 2021 Africa Netball Cup will be hosted in Namibia and competed by the likes of Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Badenhorst who took a group of players to Ireland and Northern Ireland last month, has chosen eleven players from the pool she had then.
This tournament comes in at the opportune time for her and the players, as she is set to fine tune a team she will take to the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
The SPAR Proteas head coach Dorette Badenhorst said this tournament is a major opportunity for the team to find their strengths and weaknesses.
“The Africa Netball Cup is another opportunity for us to get some game time,” said Badenhorst.
“COVID taught us how to adapt, although a few of our starting line-up players are unavailable, as coaches we want to use every given opportunity to work on creating depth in the team and give more players an opportunity to play at this level.
Playing in Africa is always a tough assignment and one can’t afford to underestimate any team,” she added.
“Playing here at home is very different from playing in Europe however I think we can take a lot from our recent tour and play good disciplined netball in a very tough and physical environment,” said Dorette Badenhorst, SPAR Proteas Head Coach.
The chosen players for the Africa Netball Cup are as follows:
Defence: Phumza Maweni; Simone Rabie; Monique Reyneke; Jamie van Wyk
Midcourt: Khanyisa Chawane; Izette Griesel; Bongiwe Msomi (c); Refiloe Nketsa
Shooters: Jessica du Plessis; Lefébre Rademan; Elmeré van der Berg; Ine-Marí Venter
The chosen players will be departing for Namibia on Saturday the 6 November and the tournament will commence on the 9 November .
“As a federation we wish the team well and know, as defending Africa champions we can never underestimate any opposition we play,” said Netball South Africa President Cecilia Molokwane.
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