Best person for the job, but can Jenny van Dyk end Proteas medal drought?

It was no surprise to see Jenny van Dyk being unveiled as the new Proteas netball coach this week.

For anyone involved in the sport over the last decade, Van Dyk’s promotion to the position has probably seemed inevitable, and it was less a question of whether she was going to be given the job, and more a question of when.

Though she was one of the country’s most promising players in her youth, Van Dyk was born to coach.

She played for the national team from Under-13 level all the way through to the U-21 age group. After picking up multiple injuries, she gritted her teeth at varsity level and played through five operations for the Tuks squad before ultimately making a decision to stop when she received her degree in sport psychology.

Coaching career

What South Africa lost in Van Dyk the player, however, it gained more from Van Dyk the coach.

Appointed to manage the netball programme at the University of Pretoria in 2008, she went on to lead a stranglehold by Gauteng North teams across the board in the domestic game.

Van Dyk guided the Gauteng Jaguars to four successive Telkom Netball League titles between 2017 and 2021. She also played a key role as head coach of the Tshwane senior provincial team, winning the title at the Spar National Netball Championships three years in a row between 2018 and 2020.

Rewarded for her success as a leader on the sidelines of the court, she also worked as the SA U-19 and SA U-21 coach before getting the top post in the local game this week.

In recent years, two other experienced coaches, Dorette Badenhorst and Norma Plummer, have led the national team. But Badenhorst apparently clashed with some of the squad’s players, and Plummer was based in her native Australia, which was never ideal.

Badenhorst and Plummer are top-drawer coaches, however, and if they couldn’t get the SA team across the line at major international tournaments, it’s obviously not going to be easy to spearhead a return to the podium for the first time in more than three decades.

Challenging task

On a four-year contract, Van Dyk will take control of the Proteas until after the 2027 World Cup in Australia, which gives her some job security and sufficient time to make a real difference. She will also have the support of assistant coach Zanele Mdodana, a former Proteas captain. But it won’t be easy.

Others have tried to put up a consistent fight against the world’s top four teams, and none have managed to raise the bar to that level.

Van Dyk will find it equally challenging, no doubt, but she has a track record and a CV which prove she has the ability to break the nation’s duck.

On paper, there’s nobody better for the job. Let’s hope she can get it right in practice.