Since he came to Botswana in 1998, Webb has won eight cups with two different teams. First, he led BDF Cats to four trophies. The Kenyan netball expert then proceeded north to lead the team of the moment, TASC to four titles. Webb says coaching netball is just like coaching football or any other sport. He says it is high time men and women changed their attitude towards different sporting codes. But why did Webb choose netball?
“I have always watched and supported my mother while she was playing for a local netball club at Central Province in Kenya,” he explains. He had once played the game though not competitively. He was 16 years old and every time his mother went to practice, he ran behind her.
At 21, he gained the necessary experience and started coaching the Cooperative Bank of Kenya team. “Netball does not have any barrier and nobody was born a netballer. Even the newly crowned European best footballer of the year, Ronaldinho, developed interest while he was still young,” says the passionate coach. He indicated that he has reaped rich rewards from developing interest in netball at a tender age. He earns his living from netball.
Webb is happy that more men have started playing netball. He has difficulties in dealing with women players. He says women are good at talking than performing. But he makes sure that he deals with them calmly. “Sometimes I use harsh language so that they listen to me.” But he is happy to be working with women and not men. Unlike men, Webb says women are understanding and show dedication in all that they do.
He obtained Class B coaching certificate in Kenya before he came to Botswana. Netball has grown in Botswana and Webb is confident that the game is headed for better times. He gets a lot of motivation from his players and management. But mostly he said he received a lot of encouragement from the late BDF Cats coach, Anthony Masogo who died in 2003. Masogo introduced him to the local netball fraternity. “I have learnt a lot from different coaches and players in Botswana,” he says. He is confident that currently, there is no team that could give his charges a hard time.
Webb is proud to have seven players in the national team. “That is a great achievement for me and the club,” he said adding that a coach is judged by his or her products and results. His contract at TASC expires next year and he would be in the market again for new challenges. But he says he is happy at TASC.
He promises to help local coaches and players to stop hero- worshipping South Africans. While he was at BDF Cats, he once won a trophy in South Africa. He lamented that clubs are much stronger than the national squad. He expressed concern that the national team is given less time to prepare for tournaments and hence it fails to perform.
His ambition is to coach outside Africa and lead a club or national side to win a world title. While he is not at the netball courts, he socialises with other coaches from different sporting codes. He enjoys associating with successful sportspeople to get tips.
“I am always eager to learn new things about sports worldwide and to make that possible, I interact with different people of different calibre,” he told Monitor Sport. He lamented that local coaches are selfish with information. He says when he has information, he voluntarily distributes it to other coaches but they fail to return the favour. He reads many netball books and surfs the Internet to up date himself.
