OMUTHIYA – The Oshikoto regional U/19 netball team have been hard at work with preparations for this year’s The Namibian Newspaper Cup to be held at the southern town of Mariental in the Hardap region over the Easter weekend next month.
The team has vowed to put up one of their best performances and bring the trophy home, saying they learned valuable lessons from last year’s edition where they lost four and won two matches.
Netball was only incorporated into the competition last year, which now sees the Newspaper Cup boast netball and football categories. According to Oshikoto region’s netball chairperson, Morin McKay, the team has made significant strides in getting ready for this year’s competition, citing the timely selection of the 15-woman squad.
“The team is now well prepared and ready take head on any tough opponents at the competition. We learned from last year’s setback where we lagged behind in terms of team selection and limited time to prepare and train. Things were just done in a short period of time, so everything was not in order last year,” said McKay.
“For this year, the team includes old and new players and thus there will be no panic as the youngsters in the squad are enjoying learning from the seniors. This is a very strong team we have and thus I am definite we stand a good chance to win the trophy,” she added.
Despite the good spirit and efforts made by the team organisers, they are concerned by the lack of playing gear as the team currently only has one set of playing gear and competition rules are that each team should at least have two sets of playing gear.
“Last year the rules were not enforced, thus we managed to play with one set of playing gear. However, for this year they are strict with those arrangements. We are therefore appealing to business people and individuals within our region to please assist us with a set of playing gear because otherwise we will be forced to borrow from somewhere. But for how long will we continue borrowing playing kits from other teams?” she worriedly queried.