Desperate Netball South Africa (NSA) and recently appointed Spar Proteas coach Norma Plummer don’t seem to be singing from the same hymn book about the national team’s ambitions and targets at next year’s Netball World Cup.
The federation is adamant about the team’s lofty ambition of a podium finish at a tournament that will be staged on home soil in Cape Town from July 28 to August 6 as they don’t want to look bad by not getting their hands on a medal.
To show seriousness about their ambition, NSA under the leadership of president Cecilia Molokwane ended their relationship with Proteas head coach Dorette Badenhorst eight months before the tournament.
They recalled respected Australian Norma Plummer, who was in charge of the team between 2016 and 2019. Plummer believes it’s going to be a hard slog to get the team to a podium at the World Cup.
“The coach (Badenhorst) was winning in Africa and that is fine. However, big tournaments are not about Africa, it’s about the world,” Molokwane said.
“We went to the Quad Series in January and we didn’t perform well and we went to the Commonwealth Games and also we didn’t perform.
“We were going back to the scores that we used to lose with when we played against top countries back in 2015. We can’t afford that at the World Cup where we will be the host country,” she said.
Under Badenhorst’s reign, SA experienced rapid decline on the court, which saw the Proteas also drop in the world rankings, where they are in fifth position.
“We had a meeting with her and she said ‘it’s best for me to go and for the country to bring someone that can give us a medal’, we did that,” said Molokwane.
While the decision to make changes and bring back Plummer, who led the Proteas to a fourth place finish at the 2019 World Cup in England, makes a lot of sense, asking for a medal at all costs doesn’t work even for the highly-rated coach.
Plummer has warned that it’s going to be “a helluva lot harder” to achieve this because of the time that is left before the World Cup and she hopes people will be realistic. “SA has the talent that just needs to be worked. The difference this time around is the amount of time that I have,” Plummer said.
“Last time, in the build-up to the 2019 World Cup, I actually had three years to prepare the team. The objective then was to gradually build them to be able to handle pressure situations and have that tactical play. We were able to put all that together before the 2019 World Cup.”
However, Molokwane doesn’t believe that time left before the tournament is going to be an issue as Plummer has worked with most of the current national team players before.
Last time, in the build-up to the 2019 World Cup, I actually had three years to prepare the team. The objective then was to gradually build them to be able to handle pressure situations and have that tactical play. We were able to put all that together before the 2019 World Cup
The president reckons that nine of the 12 players Plummer selected for the 2019 World Cup are still with the Proteas. And working with other players, though they didn’t make the team at the time, should make the coach’s job a little easier.
“We have to be realistic, the Springboks were beaten (57-0 by All Blacks in 2017) before they went to the 2019 Rugby World Cup and they went on to win the World Cup,” Molokwane said.
“To me nothing is impossible, as long as you put your mind, soul and body to it. To me the question will always be, how bad do you want it? We want it badly and we know the coach will be aiming to end her career on a high.”
Another big challenge for Plummer is that she won’t have some of the key members of the Proteas that are plying their trade in Australia and England until a month before the World Cup.
The Bongiwe Msomi-captained side have their mainstay players such as Lenize Potgieter, Ine-Marí Venter, Shadine van der Merwe, Phumza Maweni and others playing abroad. “It’s going to be a helluva lot harder to get the workload out compared to when I had years and played top Test matches,” Plummer said.
“The challenge is there and I think this is a good challenge.”
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