THE Namibian senior netball team, the Desert Jewels’ lukewarm showing at the African World Cup qualifiers underway in Botswana is a genuine cause for concern and raises serious question marks over the alarming decline of some of the country’s once elite sporting disciplines.
A quick glance at the shoddy performance by a significant chunk of our previously most successful sports codes would reveal that this worrisome trend is largely or rather unwittingly aided by the failure of those who have been entrusted to administer these constantly underachieving disciplines with a certain measure of maturity and foresight, so to speak.
As much as one has genuine sympathy for the seemingly permanently financially crippled Netball Namibia (NN) one is obliged to admit that inadequate funding played a hand in stifling the ladies’ game to get out of their blocks and unleash their full potential.
Nevertheless, serious questions surely need to be put forward as to how on bloody earth any sober-minded nation sees it fit to participate in World Cup qualifiers without proper preparation – going into such an august gathering.
An analytical assessment would reveal without an iota of doubt that the people that get to take vital decisions about the future of our sports are failing their mandate dismally. Surely, one cannot expect athletes to perform at their very best after being subjected to all sorts of insecurities prior to participating in a tournament of such magnitude.
Our girls were not even quite sure whether the tour to neigbouring Botswana would materialize or not as a result of insufficient funds, before eventually hitting the long journey by road to participate in an event where a place in the World Cup is at stake.
Hats off to the team’s management for managing to solicit funds but this eleventh hour operation could have been easily avoided if the dozing madams entrusted to keep an eagle eye over the ladies’ game had put their ducks in the row – starting negotiations with potential sponsors way ahead of the games.
In all honesty, Namibia has no business playing second fiddle to any of the participating nations and losing their opening four matches on the trot is totally unacceptable. Those defeats underline the coaches’ technical poverty.
For starters, our netball team boasts one elite player in her armoury in the shape of prolific goal shooter Toetsie Kambatuku, and since the game of netball is strictly a team sport where individual artistry is confined to the backseat – the poor girl can do very little in the absence of decent ball supply.
Secondly, one wonders as to why none of the players with international experience such as Annie Mosiane, Emsie Esterhuizen, Hilma Nicodemus, Lydia Kandetu, Ronel Moolman Magda van Schoor, Kapena Tjombonde and the likes were not roped in to assist in the coaching department since their technical expertise could have come in handy for an event of such magnitude. After all, they have been there and seen it all!
It’s now back to the drawing board for Namibian netball since it’s now crystal clear that Namibia has been overtaken by her regional competitors and only a fool will argue against the notion that there is an urgent need to rebuild the game starting from scratch.
We need to put tangible strategies in place, starting at school level and appoint people with the appropriate knowledge and expertise to oversee the successful implementation of these programmes.
As it stands, the buck stops with administrators who lack vision. We must start recalling leaders when they become arrogant and self-centered towards their subjects. This should be applicable to all the other underachieving sports codes across the board. I rest my case.