TUT coach Mninawa Ndaku has attributed their poor start in the Varsity Netball tournament to a lack of experience.
TUT received a baptism of fire when they were beaten 78-12 by UP-Tuks in their opening encounter played at Tuks at the weekend before losing 88-16 and 75-25 against NWU-Pukke and UFS Kovsies respectively.
The Tshwane based team remain rooted at the bottom of the log without a win and Ndaku has cited a lack of experience as their main undoing in the tournament.
“It was always going to be difficult to play against the strongest teams in the tournament. Lack of experience has been our main problem. I have only few players that has played at provincial level and few that have played in the under 21 B team in the Gauteng Championship and this was the first time some of my players have competed in a tournament of this stature,” said Ndaku.
Despite starting the tournament on a poor note ,Ndaku showered his players with praise for a much improved performance against Kovsies in which they managed to score at least 25 points.
“It was a really tough week for us. We are only ranked number nine at University level and needed a strong mentality to play and overcome the pressure of playing against such big teams.
“The girls started well against Tuks but struggled to keep concentration and focus on the game. We set personal goals against North West but again lost both consistence and concentration.
“We then came up against Free State, and I think my players gave a brave performance. We told them to remain fearless and stay focused and was good to see the team crossing the 20 points mark against the number one team,” he added.
Ndaku and his team are now hoping to take lot of positives from this tournament.
“We are taking this tournament is a learning curve. We are taking one step at a time and slowly we are getting better and better.
“Its a great experience for my players. There is nothing to lose but a lot to gain. They are learning a lot in terms of absorbing and handling pressure in high performance games,” he explained.
By Ernest Fakude
