Kovsies coach Burta de Kock is adamant that her side wants to win the Varsitysports netball tournament even though they didn’t have the perfect start that was predicted for the first three rounds.
With the USSA title earlier this year already in the bag, many suggested that it is mere formality before Kovsies are crowned champions, but the Bloemfontein based side came op short in the first round against NWU Puk. They however recovered and beat UP-Tuks and TUT to get back on track.
“No coach will ever be happy with a loss, but we feel we have gained enough momentum going into the next couple of rounds. We definitely want to win this competition and therefore there is no talk of taking the foot off the accelerator,” Kovsies and former Proteas coach De Kock said on Tuesday.
Kovsies shrugged off their 60-47 loss against Puk and came back strong with good victories over Tuks (53-46) and of course TUT (75-26). It was against the latter that the Kovsies side really showed what they are capable of.
“We gave many of our youngsters a chance against TUT and they did very well. That being said, the senior players like Iselma Parkin and Danelle Willemse really showed their leadership capabilities while players like Shirolen Smith and Lauren-Lee Christians also fared really well,” De Kock added.
Kovsie next face UJ, hosting the Johannesburg on Monday in the Callie Human hall on the campus of the University of the Free State. And the added bonus along with playing their first home game is that the side will be able to call on their Proteas players Maryka Holtzhausen, Karla Mostert and Adéle Niemand.
“Playing at home is always nice for the players. It just takes of that extra bit of pressure. Along with that it will be good to have players like Maryka, Karla and Adéle back from the Proteas tour in England. Our younger players did very well in their absence, but experience is something that you just can’t do without,” de Kock concluded.
