Rumandi Potgieter is unofficially one of the “war veterans” of the UP-Tuks Netball team; one can say a real straight shooter who seldom misses her target on and off the court. You’ll be surprised to discover what other ‘game’ she excels at.
The second year BComm Law-student impressed with her energetic performance so far as goal-attack for Tuks in the Varsity Netball tournament. She has a knack for being at the right place at critical moments scoring vital goals which are quite remarkable considering that she is only 1.65m tall.
Potgieter does not see length as a prerogative to be competitive as a goal. For her, it is about passion.
“Obviously being tall is an asset when playing at goal. Unfortunately I missed out by quite a few centimetres, but I found, in the end, all that matters is to focus doing what is expected of a goal-attack to perfection.
“I tried playing other positions, but netball for me is playing in the circle. I love the pressure that goes with playing goal-attack. The more it is, the better I tend to play.”
Potgieter emphasised that communication between her and whoever is playing goal-shooter is of the utmost importance during a game.
“That is why we have only a shooters practise before a match to get used to playing together in the circle. I got to know what works for the goal-attack and vice versa.”
The UP-Tuks games against Pukke and Maties were humdingers. Pukke won 40-34 while UP-Tuks clinched a victory in the dying moments against Maties. The final score being 48-46. There is a good chance that UP-Tuks could play against one of either team again in the semi-final.
Potgieter is confident that the result will be different the next time against Pukke.
“We learned a lot playing against them, and we know now what to do and not to do. Against Maties, it will be substantial not to play catch-up all the time. The positive we can take from the game against Maties is the way we refused to give up. I think that never-say-die attitude is going to stand us in good stead later on in the tournament.”
Potgieter’s tactical savviness is not restricted to shooting goals during netball games. She is equally strategic and astute when playing video games, particularly war-themed ones. She admits that when she is on holiday that she can play for hours on end strategising how to win on the battlefield or outfox opponents in various sporting encounters.
Potgieter also considers herself to be quite an expert when it comes to sleeping. UP-Tuks play against VUT on Monday at 18:30 in the Rembrandt Hall. So far they have won four of their five games.
By Wilhelm de Swardt
