Netball renaissance in full swing

IT is safe to say netball in Namibia has been to hell and back. Netball Namibia went from an unstable broke amateur establishment to a thriving cohesive unit attracting multimillion-dollar investments in just five years.

The code has had to overcome tremendous obstacles over the past two decades to once again stand among the standard bearers in the country.

Once among the country’s top-performing codes, the sport was crippled into virtual extinction by unrelenting internal strife and maladministration in the mid to late 90s.

It took until 2014 for Netball Namibia, rebranded from the All Namibia Netball Association, to steady the ship and map a route out of obscurity.

Upon taking up her new role as NN president, Lydia Mutenda vowed the code would “rise from the ashes and return to its erstwhile position of sports prominence in Namibia”.

To achieve that, the new leadership had to source investment to strengthen regional structures, establish and maintain regional leagues, and hold regular netball competitions.

Once Debmarine Namibia came on board with N$1,8 million spread over three years in 2017, the revival began to take shape.

The country’s leading marine diamond mining company’s sponsorship caters for the annual Senior National Netball Championships, annual five nations Pent Series, N$10 000-league grants per region and the training of officials.

This week, MTC added their weight to the renaissance by committing N$4,2 million towards the establishment of a Netball Premier League.

“Our biggest obstacle has always been money. We have over the years developed different strategic plans to approach sponsors, but had been unsuccessful,” vice president Rebekka Goagoses-Nekundi said in an interview with The Namibian Sport this week.

“We carried a heavy burden of being branded as having constant infighting. This is not true during our term.

“This board has always asked for a chance, and we proved with the Debmarine Namibia sponsorship we are capable of moving netball to the next level if we have the money,” she said.

South Africa, who have a professional set-up, chipped in by making experts available to help charter the ideal course.

Competitions like The Namibian Newspaper Cup for under-19s, and Debmarine Namibia Bridging the Gap for u17s have piqued the youth’s interest, providing a conveyor belt of rough gems for the Desert Jewels.

“The priority was to bring on board more sponsors for the different activities we have in Namibia. This includes securing a sponsor for every regional structure that will enable them to successfully run their regional leagues. It does not need to be a large-scale sponsor, any form of support will do,” Goagoses-Nekundi said.

Regular international exposure has seen the Desert Jewels improve exponentially and exceed expectation.

Despite being a work in progress, the Jewels have already captured two international competitions against higher-rated rivals, the 2018 Debmarine Namibia Pent Series title at home and the 2019 M1 Nations Cup in Singapore.

To underline their remarkable progress, Namibia is now 23rd globally on the latest the International Netball Federation rankings.

“The next target is to qualify for the 2022 Commonwealth Games that will be held in Birmingham [England]. This requires us to climb up the ranking table to 16th position,” Goagoses-Nekundi said.

“Then, we want to qualify for the 2023 Netball World Cup that will be held in Cape Town [South Africa]. This requires us to play our African sister countries more often to beat them at the qualifiers.”

The senior official said despite the giant strides made over the past two years, Namibian netball is nowhere near the level required to mount and sustain a challenge against leading nations in the sport.

In essence, the journey has only just begun, with the imminent lucrative MTC Netball Premier League seen as the game-changer.

“There was nothing to look forward to after winning a league within your region. The players were not benefiting anything apart from doing what they love. Now they will do what they love with a purpose,” said Goagoses-Nekundi.

“In the future, there will be some form of compensation from the participating clubs towards the players. This is a step towards professionalising netball in the country, and ensuring players are looked after to some degree.”

To get to elite level netball, Namibia needs to establish a high-performance centre while upgrading club and regional level administration, she said.

“We are also looking at inviting international scouts, and to use this platform as a scouting session for possible international games. So it will not just stop with being able to play for the Desert Jewels teams,” Goagoses-Nekundi said.