/ 9 November 2007

No netting this World Cup

If national coach Burta de Kock had been allowed four years to develop and nurture a squad, as Jake White was, it would be a different South African team taking to the court at the World Netball Championships in New Zealand this weekend.

Not only would they have been more confident in their own abilities, but also in those of their teammates.

And confidence is everything when it comes to taking on the best the world has to offer.

De Kock, who took over the reins late last year, is not complaining though. She gives White all the credit he deserves for producing his crop of world champions. But one can’t help noticing just a hint of envy in her voice.

”He did an excellent job for four years, took all the criticism and produced a brilliant result. But rugby and netball are on different planets in South Africa,” she said from the team base in Auckland this week.

”We share the same passions, dreams and desire to win in our sports, but it’s much tougher in netball with the lack of finance and with non-professional players. It’s just a totally different system,” she said.

De Kock pointed out that 11 national players, including the likes of former captains Martha Mosoahle and Elsje Jordaan, as well as fellow members of the 2003 World Championships squad Manzo Machoga and Liezel Wium, simply dropped out of the sport during the last year because of work and study commitments.

”And those are the players with all the experience. They know what’s going on when it comes to international competition.

”What needs to happen is that you have a group of players you work with for the four years leading up to a competition like the World Championships. You need that time to learn about each and every player and what their strengths are. If you could do that, it would be wonderful and you could look forward to a fantastic tour.”

As it stands, just one player, Sindi Gumede, remains from the squad that finished fifth at the last World Championships, in Jamaica four years ago, while teams such as defending champions New Zealand have several players in their 30s and boast a whopping total of 412 collective caps (South Africa have just 227). Of the Australian squad only a handful were not in Jamaica.

De Kock did not want to dwell on that too much, though, and remained upbeat about her team’s chances in this competition.

South Africa was the first team to arrive in Auckland last Friday and played two warm-up matches against New Zealand under-21s (winning the first 53-41, but losing the second 44-53).

”It was important to come a bit earlier to acclimatise and it was good to be able to expose the players and try out all our combinations in the warm-up matches,” said the coach.

”We are looking very good in defence and there were some brilliant turnovers, but because of the lack of international competition in preparation for this tournament the girls are struggling with consistency. Only competition gives you that, so, with luck, that will improve as we go along.

”We have done everything we could possibly have done in preparation with the time we had together, so we are not unprepared. We just need to stay focused and mentally strong.”

Questions have been raised about whether the South Africans can hold on to their number five spot in the world, after some not-so-convincing performances against minnows Malawi and Uganda, but De Kock will not be drawn into commenting on rankings.

”We don’t want to focus on positions. We will take it game by game, play hard and first try to reach the quarterfinals, and then the semis,” she said.

”It’s a young team and while they might be lacking a bit in experience, they also have nothing to lose. I have full confidence in the team. We have prepared both mentally and physically and they will be going out there to make South Africa proud,” said the coach.

Whatever happens, it’s bound to be an incredible experience for the team of relative rookies who have been surrounded by netball hype like they’ve never seen before.

New Zealand must be the one country in the world where national netball players are hailed as heroes, and the media attention so far has been phenomenal. The Australian team alone were greeted at Auckland’s airport by six TV crews.

There’s good reason for all the attention on the eight-time world-champion Aussies. Former New Zealand star Belinda Colling, who was part of the title-winning team in 2003, told the New Zealand Herald that Australia are likely to have the edge over her former teammates.

”I think the Aussies have probably got the upper hand at the moment and they go into the tournament as definite favourites,” she said.

”I say that because in the last couple of series [against New Zealand], the Aussies have come out on top and it hasn’t just been one or two goals, it was 10 goals in the last game,” she said.

The action gets under way in Waitakere, Auckland, on November 10 when the hosts take on Malawi in the opening game. South Africa play their first match the next day against Malaysia.