Maties need to develop a thick skin. Their performance on the field has grown since their first appearance in Varsity Netball, back in 2013. Last season they were the surprise package, beating teams such as NWU-Pukke in the process. It would have been expected that Maties would go to the next level and continue bullying the big-name teams and also defeat them in the process.
However, their match against UP-Tuks on Sunday proved that they need to go back to the drawing board and work on the mental side of their game. Being neck-in-neck with Tuks in the three quarters promised to have the game end in a draw, but it was disappointing that they lost focus and guts in the final two minutes of the match, which happened to be the two power play minutes.
They will have to put a bit of focus in the power play to ensure they get as many points as they can in this segment. It would be ideal for them to have loud music as part of their training, to sharpen up this part of the game.
The experience in the team cannot be questioned. Jo Prins, Juline Rossouw, Charmaine Baard and Sasha-Lee Petersen all have donned the national colours. The experience between them should be enough to inspire Maties to go to the next level and finish better than they did last season.
With their next two matches, Christine Behan’s charges will look to redeem themselves against a confident UJ, who just won a home game against VUT. They are only a point behind the Johannesburg team; they can use this match to leapfrog them on the log. UCT Ikeys may provide Maties the confidence they need in the next bumper weekend of netball. UCT have also only won one match so far in the season, but it is unlikely they will match Maties.
By Busisiwe Mokwena, Daily Sun and Sunday Sun Sports Reporter
