Trying to balance the netball seesaw
Having tentatively reached a solid platform to kick on, the Proteas can't afford to regress after Norma Plummer's departure.
Wesley Botton.
Like watching two children of vastly different sizes trying to balance a seesaw, the progress of the national netball team has been awkward to watch.
Facing the world’s best sides in recent years, the Proteas have lost games they should have won, they’ve thrown victories away at the death and they’ve produced some performances which have been stunningly poor by their own standards.
But on the path to most of their defeats, they’ve been able to put up a fight, and for every loss, they’ve pulled it back with a win.
Now, launching a new era under head coach Dorette Badenhorst, their potential progress will rest largely on their performances over the next week.
With Australian native Norma Plummer having produced the required goods (at least most of them) before she stepped down last year, it will be crucial for Badenhorst and her management team to prove they have learned from the experience Plummer imparted on them during her four-year tenure as coach.
And it will be equally crucial for the players to show they can make the transition under a new mentor without losing any of the skills and determination which were introduced and instilled by Plummer.
They don’t need to win the Netball Nations Cup in England next week to prove they have what it takes to continue their steady improvement, but they do need to win games.
With less than four years to the next World Cup, to be played on home soil in Cape Town, the pressure is on to ensure the Proteas have the ability to keep fans and media entertained and build interest ahead of the spectacle.
It hasn’t been easy to watch, but the national side have managed to gradually add enough weight to their arsenal that their end of the seesaw is inching towards the ground, and they are nearing the point where they will be able to match the global elite on an equal footing.
Should they forget all they’ve learned as they embark on a new journey, however, and drop enough weight that the seesaw begins to rise, they will soon be locked in another awkward wobble.
Consistency is key and they need to win more matches than they lose if they are to be considered World Cup contenders, so throwing away any momentum now will just push them onto the back foot.
The time has come for the Proteas to prove they can handle the pressure at the highest level.
If they can’t do it now, their feet might never touch the ground.
Wesley Botton is The Citizen’s chief sports writer.
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