Malittle impress at super stars competition
Thato Kala | Monday September 8, 2014 10:48
MaLittle Gained Exposure
The Super Stars tournament must have shown Botswana Netball Association (BONA) what potential MaLittle have and how they carry the country’s future in as far as the sport is concerned.
After their two wins over the more experienced Spar North and Future Stars on Saturday, MaLittle only lost to the national team. The MaLittle players are mainly drawn from the national Under-17 side. Their coach, Kagisano Mawela said: “I think if they can keep them together for a long time, we can have a good team for the national team in the near future”.
The key player in the MaLittle team is Sarona Hans.
“The team is doing quite well considering we have not had time to train because others have been traveling to Zambia and we stay far from each other. I think we are doing great. Botswana’s netball future is bright. We are playing older opponents and we are winning against them,” Hans said.
Former Under-17 national team player, Kempho Ngongorego hopes the team will be kept as a unit for the future.
“It has great players; they are giving seniors a hard time. I played for an Under-17 team, which was not as good as this one. My hope is that they should be maintained like this with a few additions here and there. We will gain a lot if we keep them this way.”
Developing Local Coaches
Kagisono Mawela’s job at the MaLittle team points to the fact that BONA wants to develop its own coaches. As a player, Mawela won many medals with her club BDF Cats and the national team.
Her Super Stars experience could be the bedrock upon which she builds her coaching career. She will be proud to have mentored an outstanding youthful team.
Broadening Player Selection Base
Future Stars’ coach, Regent Mosimanewapula hailed the Super Stars tournament and hopes that it helped national team coaches to identify players. “This is a beautiful initiative, it makes us to meet and national coaches are able to identify some players. Some of the players do not get game time at club level but they are getting that now.”
Crammed Fixtures
MaLittle had to play three games on Saturday to cover up for the two weeks they missed because of the BISA and COSASSA Games. Future Stars also had a fixture backlog and had to play catch up, which obviously affects quality in the tournament.
Non-Attendance By Players
Player commitment was an issue especially in the last two weekends of the tournament with Spar South struggling to raise a full team last weekend.
Imbalance In Teams
The national side - dubbed Team BONA - was too strong for its opponents while some teams were extremely weak. Perhaps mixing players and getting balanced teams could enhance the level of competition in future.
Lack Of Fitness
Some players from teams that did not train together struggled with fitness and did not perform to their best.
Overall, the tournament was a decent initiative that could be modified in future to give a boost to players, broaden national team selection and enhance individual player performance.