Traveling by bus for up to nine hours back and forth has its advantages and hopefully for the NWU netball players it will show on their academic report cards at the end of the year.
The NWU netball team bus can be jolly and loud, but on Monday night traveling back to Potchefstroom from Bloemfontein one would nearly have heard a pin drop. And this wasn’t because of a disappointing loss (they defeated the Kovsies by four goals), but rather due to some serious studying being done.
No less than ten of the 12 players had a test laying in wait the following day. Four of them had to write at 08:00.
Simoné Rabie, defender of NWU even had two tests. The bus arrived back in Potch close to midnight. According to her, most of them also studied on their way to Bloemfontein and at the hotel.
“On Monday the lights were kept on for us. Traveling in a small bus and on a road that isn’t very stable, it wasn’t always that comfortable,” Rabie said.
“Luckily the tests finish at the end of the week, then its holiday. When we go to Bloemfontein again (for the semi-final against the Kovsies on Monday) we can focus completely on the game at hand and enjoy the trip.”
Rabie admits that with Sigi Burger, who is normally the loudest on the bus, injured, she has taken over the position of “cheerleader”.
Interestingly, five of the team members are all doing the same course, to do with human movement sciences. They are Anja Esterhuizen and Jessica du Plessis (both BSc Human Movement Sciences and Physiology), Mandy Hermanus and Romé Dryer (both BA Human Movement and Psychology) and Monique Reyneke (BA Human Movement Science).
“It is probably because we are active and train hard that it makes it a field of interest for so many of us,” said Rabie who also studied in that field last year before moving to Tourism and Recreation.
“The player that probably has the most learning to do is Marike Maree (goal shooter) who is doing her honours degree in BSc Sport Science.”
