It was smiles, laughter and wishes of goodwill on the evening of Monday 24 April when the Western Cape Netball Federation (WCNF) officially launched the netball teams participating in the Telkom Netball League (TNL), which began on Thursday 27 April in Polokwane, Limpopo.
The Southern Stings will participate in the A division and Tornados will play in the B division. The Stings ended fourth at last year’s TNL and Tornados third in their respective division.
High-performance league players were initially screened through talent identification, after which 16 players were selected although 12 ultimately travelled to Polokwane.
At the launch event, hosted at Somerset College, President of Netball Western Cape Bennie Saayman motivated the teams to do their best and make the province proud.
“We support you and will watch you with excitement,” she said. “Go and give it your all, go well and the best of luck to all of you.”
Also attending was Netball South Africa director of coaching Anneline Lucas, who shared words of inspiration, telling the players: “The way you do anything is the way you do everything.
“Do it yourself, it’s time we move on from silver, and it’s time we play for gold.”
Both the Stings and Tornados aim to play finals this year, which is a real possibility following their impressive performance last year, especially since the Stings reached semi–finals before going down in extra time.
Helderberg local Vivienne Kearns is the manager for the Stings for the fifth consecutive year.
The TNL league commenced from Thursday 27 April and was played until Monday 1 May and then continue again for the entire month of June.
Three current protea players are part of the Stings, which include Phumza Maweni, Nichole Taljaard and Nicola Smit.
