CAPE TOWN – With just 69 days to go before the start of the 2023 Netball World Cup taking place in Cape Town, Netball South Africa (NSA) confirmed the fifteen-player squad that will represent South Africa at the first-ever African stage Netball World Cup.
SPAR Proteas Head Coach Norma Plummer has been in camp with a group of South African-based players who are on a four-week hiatus break from the Telkom Netball League.
All the overseas-based players were not part of this camp due to commitments in their respective leagues abroad.
The team assembled at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sports (SAS) which has been their training base since 2022 on the 7 May 2023 and has worked very closely with the Australian mentor for her to finally select her team.
Plummer will lead her South African charges to their second successive World Cup after doing so again back in 2019. She believes that she has selected the best players to represent South Africa.
“We have been in camp since May 7th, and I believe that we have worked very hard with the players at our disposal. We have had some technical and tactical aspects of the game put to the players and at their game,” Plummer said.
“We manage to get some practice matches as well so that, we are sure. We have chosen the best 15 players (12 travelling and 3 reserves) which we believe are the best options.”
The players will return to their respective domestic and provincial teams for the remainder of the league which ends on the 1st of July 2023.
They will meet again in Stellenbosch for the final stretch of the World Cup preparations.
“As a federation, we have given Coach Norma and the management team all the support they needed in preparing the best team for the World Cup,” said Cecilia Molokwane, Netball South Africa President.
“This will be for the first time in sixty years that a Netball World Cup is hosted on African soil, therefore our expectation for a podium finish as hosts is a fair one. We can’t host and become spectators in our own backyard – we need to make sure that South Africa and other African countries make it to the podium come 6th August 2023.
“We have spoken to the players and team at large about the importance of this world cup and what we expect of them without applying any pressure on them. From Netball South Africa, we are pleased with the selected players, and we know for sure that they will do well.
We are throwing all the much-needed support to the team, and we have full confidence in that and what they can deliver for us. This is their one chance to write their names in the history books.”
Squad: Bongiwe Msomi (capt); Karla Pretorius (VC); Khanyisa Chawane; Izette Griesel; Owethu Ngubane; Refiloe Nketsa; Phumza Maweni; Lenize Potgieter; Lefebre Rademan; Nicola Smith; Jeante Strydom; Nichole Taljaard; Elmere van der Berg; Shadine van der Merwe, Ine-Mari Vente
The 2023 Netball World starts on 28 July till 6 August 2023 and will be played at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).
