With exactly 28 days to go before the kick off of the World Netball Championships, the Botswana national netball team has begun its final phase of preparations.
The team started its final camp this past Friday and players who will make the final 12 ladies’ team are expected to be announced in less than ten days.
According to the team’s head coach, Seipei Gaelesiwe, the final squad is expected to be named on the 12th of this month.
“We are planning to hold a training camp for these players up until the 26th of June when we will leave for the World Championships in Singapore,” Gaelesiwe said in an interview.
The national netball team coach says while some of the team players have not yet been released from their work commitments, she expects almost all of them to be available for the team’s first training sessions tomorrow. The team, which is expected to camp at Bathopele Lodge, will be training at various facilities among them the Botswana Netball Association (BONA) courts as well as Thebephatshwa Airbase and Sebele indoor facilities.
“We will be playing indoors during the championships and it is essential that we train indoors to get used to playing indoors,” Gaelesiwe said. After watching her team’s successful qualification as well as playing in the tri nations’ tournament, the coach says she is, however, not yet sure of which playing combinations to use during the championships, something which she believes will be resolved when the training camp comes to conclusion.
She says they are currently trying to arrange games with clubs in South Africa as well men’s netball sides in order to prepare the ladies physical side of the game.
“The only major challenge and concern, I believe, is the mental fitness of the ladies ahead of the games. We will be looking at preparing them mentally and will be calling sessions with them to help in this aspect,” Gaelesiwe added.
The coach said they expect the team to leave for Singapore six days before the start of the games so as to acclimatise.
“We are going to the championships to compete, not just to participate. We want to get into the top eight in the world rankings and improve our ranking in the world,” the coach added.
Among those called into the provisional team are two junior team players, Ntebogang Motlakaloso as well as 17-year-old goal-scoring sensation, Tumisang Bagidi.
Speaking of their inclusion in the set up, Gaelesiwe said the intention is to groom them for the future senior national netball team.
Meanwhile, BONA president, Tebogo Lebotse, says they have already lined up two friendly games for the national team in Singapore. The games will be against two other countries who have qualified for the championships, Barbados being one of them.
Apart from the games in Singapore, Lebotse says they are still awaiting response from Malawi who they have asked for a friendly test series. Lebotse, who reiterated coach Gaelesiwe’s words that they intend to make it into the top eight teams in the world, has acknowledged that the target is very ambitious.
“Looking at our group, we will play three games, two of which we have to win if we are to realise this target. Two of these games will be against Jamaica and South Africa, which are ranked fourth and sixth, respectively, in the world and which will be very difficult to beat,” Lebotse added.
The BONA chief has applauded the national team coach for taking two of the countries’ junior netballers into camp and consider them for the championships.
“I am very excited about that development. It shows that we are taking a step in the right direction. If you look at England, they have already drafted three junior players into their final squad as a way to prepare them for the future and this shows we are going in the right direction,” Lebotse added.
Meanwhile, Lebotse says they will be taking along three coaches to Singapore for training during the championships. She says this will be to strengthen the acumen of local coaches so as to improve their technical abilities, which she believes will do well for clubs as well as future players.
