It will be a case of ‘like mother like daughter’ when the TuksNetball team takes to the court to play their first official match of the new season.

More than two decades ago, the now dr Wilma Bergh and her teammate René Odendaal played for Tuks. Later, they both earned national colours in the sport.

Odendaal went on to be part of the most glorious moment of South African netball. This was in 1995 when the national team won a silver medal at the World Cup Tournament.

Now, the daughters of these two legends, Jani Bergh and Euné Odendaal, are playing for Tuks. Maybe history could repeat itself in two years when South Africa hosts the Netball World Cup Tournament in Cape Town. Bergh had already represented the South African under-18 schools team in 2017.

The one advantage both Tuks players have is getting advice from the best. If they dare to err, they will hear about it.

The South African netball team qualifying for the 1995 World Cup Tournament-final in Birmingham was a major upset. It was not supposed to happen. Earlier that year, they still got clobbered when touring Australia and New Zealand.

According to Odendaal, they were quite a senior team as far as age was concerned.

“On average, we were 30 or older. I was 33 at the time. Some of my teammates were even older. Most of us were also married with children. Irene van Dyk and Dominique Harverson were the two youngsters,” she explained.

Odendaal said the one thing they got going for them was the hunger to win. There would be no second chance for many of them.

“It certainly made us more motivated. It can be said that we were out to prove that life starts at thirty. Our big moment during the World Cup was beating Nieu Zealand 59-57 during the pool games. That led to us qualifying for the final. I have to admit we were slightly overwhelmed playing Australia. It turned out to be one game too many,” Odendaal remarked.

Wilma Bergh got selected for Kay Meyer-team in the eighties. Due to Apartheid, it was the highest honour South African netball players could strive towards at the time.

Euné Odendaal is for now not obsessed with playing netball for South Africa. For her, it is a case of first things first. While at school, she was considered to be a talented swimmer.

Odendaal even had an offer to go study and compete as a swimmer in the USA. Unfortunately, or fortunately, a shoulder injury had put an end to that dream. It led to her starting to play netball again about two years ago. The past December, she represented Tshwane’s B-side at the South African Championships.

Jani Bergh was frustrated when doing the interview as she had injured her ankle ligaments during training. Being side-lined is not something she enjoys.

She plays centre as her mom did. Bergh considers her speed and the ability to read the game as her best qualities on the court.

On being asked the most important thing she learned from her mom, her answer was: “Hard works beat talent on any day.”

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