• Sports

The ball is in your court

Elizabeth Joseph





“On top of that we will continue providing up-skilling opportunities to our coaches and umpires to improve netball in the Khomas region,” Khomas Netball’s public relations officer Isack Hamata said.

“Selection is done in two ways: Firstly through continuous monitoring of the players during the league, and secondly through trials. The combination of both makes it effective to monitor the consistency of players throughout the season and not to focus on those who only excel for a small part of the season.”

Hamata said that this year, the Khomas team finished second in the Namibian Newspaper Cup netball segment and also did well in the Debmarine Cup, although they did not make it to the finals.

According to Hamata, in general Namibian netball has grown and people are again starting to show interest. Namibia’s recent victory at the M1 Six Nations Cup in Singapore has given netball the push it needs to go to a higher level.

“As Khomas, we would like all the regions to have active leagues to broaden the base of players from which national selectors can choose players. A national league will be ideal for Namibian netball as none currently exists, as in the case with football where they have the Namibian Premier League that represents most parts of the country,” Hamata added.

Character traits

Hamata said that while there are many important traits when playing netball, some that come to mind are discipline and perseverance, especially in Namibian netball. “The netball league does not have a sponsor and players as well as administrators and coaches do everything voluntarily.”

He said that players, administrators and coaches use their own resources to run clubs, the league and paying for training venues. “But there is great love for netball and that is why there is still an active league programme in Khomas and some of the other regions.”

At the moment the Khomas team does not have plans for international travel, but are open to explore the options.

He said that big competitions would typically be regional events like the Namibian Newspaper Cup and the Debmarine Cup, where regions compete against each other. “Training venues depend on their availability and the national team makes use of facilities such as Trustco United, Wanderers, Namibian Police courts and the Khomasdal Stadium, depending on availability.

“I must add that we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the owners of these facilities for providing them for free or at a minimal cost. Without their generosity, we would not even have venues for our league matches,” he added.

Hamata thanked the Namibian netball team, players, coaches, the Netball Namibia board and everyone who was involved in securing victory in Singapore.

He also thanked the sponsor for making the trip possible. “We look forward to improved rankings on the international netball rankings list and we also anticipate that Namibia will be invited to more international competitions. The victory in Singapore has really turned things around for Namibian netball and we need to make good use of the spin offs from our achievement there,” he said.

Lastly, Hamata called on corporate Namibia to use some of their sponsorship spend for netball in all areas of the country. “It is only through financial support that we can have strong regional leagues, a strong national team and a high standing in world netball.”