The SPAR Proteas have made great strides in world netball the last couple of months, now it’s up to the SA Fast5 team to do their best and prove that South African netball is overall in a healthy state.
The eighth edition of the Fast5 Netball World Series takes place on Saturday and Sunday in Melbourne, Australia. The South African side have been hard at work to try and improve on their last place of last year.
According to head coach, Elsjé Jordaan, they are aiming for a medal play-off position, something SA last achieved in 2013.
‘Our preparations went really well and we all understand much better what to expect and what is needed for this format of the game. If we as coaches strategically make the right decisions and the players can switch on immediately they take court and we can sink the shots, we can reach a medal play-off position. We will be working hard to better our sixth position of 2016,’ Jordaan said.
South Africa will require at least two wins from the five group matches to possibly reach the semi-finals, but three victories will be enough to assure them of a spot. They face Jamaica, New Zealand and England on Saturday and Malawi and Australia on Sunday. They are yet to beat the Kiwis and English.
‘Yes there is always the risk that players might be a bit rusty, but it is a full netball calendar and sometimes a bit of a break is not a bad thing,’ Jordaan said about Deancke Rohde, Lauren-Lee Christians and Zanne-Marie Pienaar having not played much netball at national level in the last couple of months.
‘Lauren’s experience is invaluable to the team, as player and captain. She’s recovered from her knee operation and looked strong and sharp during training. Zanne, Jessica [Khomo] and Deancke are very excited about the opportunity to play at the next level and I’m sure their experience as older and more mature players combined with the excitement will overcome the rustiness.’
On the other hand, players like Romé Dreyer and Charmaine Baard have both been in great form in the Varsity Series whilst Phumza Maweni, Maryka Holtzhausen and Renske Stoltz were all in action a month ago in the British Fast5 All-Stars Championship where Stoltz was named as the tournament’s best player.
‘The experience Renske gained in England will be crucial to her and the team as it’s her first World Series. I believe Romé and Charmaine can become specialist Fast5 players as they grow and get more experience.’
At last year’s World Series, Baard shot the most three-point goals and of all the players with five or more attempts from that distance, her success rate (39%) was the highest.
The SA Fast5 Team
Shooters: Deancke Rohde (Gauteng), Charmaine Baard (Western Cape), Maryka Holtzhausen (Free State), Renske Stoltz (Gauteng)
Centre Court: Romé Dreyer (North West), Lauren-Lee Christians (Eastern Cape, captain), Fikile Mkhuzangwe (North West)
Defenders: Jessica Khomo (KwaZulu-Natal), Zanne-Marie Pienaar (Gauteng), Phumza Maweni
Head coach: Elsjé Jordaan
Assistant coach: Zanele Mdodana
The Fast5 Netball World Series will be broadcast love on SuperSport SS9, SS11 and CSN from 4.30am on Saturday and 3am on SS9, SS11, SS5 and CSN on Sunday.
See more broadcast details here: http://bit.ly/2qcPfPM
Picture of Christians courtesy of Reg Caldecott