SA netball needs cohesion
2008-08-05 15:30
Pretoria - South African netball has a wealth of talent, among players as well as coaches, but needs cohesion if it is to succeed internationally.
That is the view of Lyn Gunson, a former coach of the all-conquering New Zealand team. Gunson, who is a member of the International Federation of Netball Association's (Ifna's) international coaching committee, was speaking to journalists at the Spar South African netball championships at the Tuks Indoor Centre on Tuesday.
"There is some outstanding talent here," said Gunson. "What is needed is cohesion between the different groups. There are many people in South Africa who are doing valuable research into what is needed to develop a successful international team, but that knowledge has to be pooled."
Gunson, who spent some time in Britain helping England to turn around the fortunes of its national team, has been asked by Netball South Africa (NSA) to do a similar task in South Africa.
She held a successful workshop for provincial coaches before the start of the championships, and will also spend some time with the coach of the national team, Karin Strauss.
"South Africa needs more international exposure - not just for the national team, but at university and school level as well," she said. "NSA needs to work on exchange programmes where players can travel abroad and gain experience playing in other countries."
Identify the talented players
She emphasised that the future of South African netball was at present playing in the Under-17 and Under-19 levels.
"You need to identify the talented players while they are still at school, and start preparing them for international netball," she said. "It takes at least four years to develop a national squad, and eight years to turn that squad into a really successful unit."
Gunson said there were several different styles of coaching in South Africa, and she believed this was healthy.
"A country that has one style of coaching can easily stagnate. But different styles mean that coaches can feed off one another, and this can help them all to move forward."
She said that while many people were despondent about the state of netball in South Africa, the problem was not unique to this country. "Many other countries, including the West Indies, are going through the same problems."
- SAPA