Despite suffering three successive defeats in their first weekend of Varsity Netball UCT coach Stephanie Duursema is positive about the team’s attitude going forward.
The Cape side have taken something out of every game they have played, and are determined to carry their experience forward.
UCT began their Varsity Netball campaign on Saturday with a game against familiar Cape rivals, Maties, going down 22-62 at the NMMU campus in Port Elizabeth.
The Stellenbosch side took the lead early on nudging forward 21-4 in the first quarter. Unfortunately, UCT were then left in hearty pursuit, and were unsuccessful in their attempts to make a come-back.
Taking positives from the game, the side had many promising passages of play and particularly, captain Asanga Mehana and Lisalakuhle Mboba had brilliant games.
The side from the Mother City were then came up against UJ on Sunday, scoring more points this time round, but ultimately giving away more too, resulting in a final scoreline of 24-63.
UJ were on the rebound from a powerful defeat by NMMU, and were hence hungry to prove themselves. UCT felt the brunt of this effort, and had no answer for the skillful precision with which UJ executed their play.
Finally, the UCT ladies took on powerhouse hosts NMMU, suffering their worst defeat thus far at 22-67. The commanding performance by NMMU was unsurprising given their unbridled success so far in the tournament.
At the end of first quarter, NMMU were only 19-5 up, but UCT were unable to close the gap by half-time with the scoreboard reading 29-10 to the hosts. UCT were unable to pull-back throughout the remainder of the match, but fought hard in their attempts regardless.
Duursema admits that it has been a tough week, but she is nonetheless very proud of her squad’s performance. For her, moving forward simply “means playing better than yesterday”.
The team take all three defeats with a pinch of salt, and have no doubt proven their motivation “where, in the extremely formal sporting environment Varsity Netball brings, it is the size of the heart that counts”, as the coach said.
While it is always hard to narrow down powerful individual performances, Duursema cited Goal Keeper Simone Peters, Goal Defence Fortuna Bagula, Centre Bronwyn Bodley and captain Asanga Mehana as producing notable performances in the three games. However, she claimed, team work was most evident in the side.
In terms of areas of improvement, Duursema stated: “We need to improve on our confidence to play a stronger attacking game – to find the balance between power play, leading to successful scoring.” They will, therefore, take forward each and everything they can, and work hard in the games coming up.
Finally, in terms of the current mindset of the players she said: “The team is motivated, quietly so. Having been dubbed the ‘underdogs’ from early on and following USSA in July, we had a good idea what we were up against.”
UCT ranked low in the USSA tournament, but are nonetheless committed to their campaign in the tournament.
“From day one our focus was to take the opportunity and run with it. We embrace our growth and are in a really good space about having played a great game till the end. The team is now, more than ever, excited about Varsity Netball,” Duursema said.
UCT take on TUT next on Monday 30th September in a much-anticipated home game.
By Megan Kinnaird
