Room for netball to improve

Allow me to congratulate Netball Namibia for another completed MTC Namibia Netball Premier League season.

I must say, it has been a good season with proper netball played throughout.

Having attended a couple of games, I can attest that the quality of netball has improved.

This is something I would love to see continuing to next season and the season after that one.

I agree there were times during the season when the organisation of some matches was not on par.

I can, however, also agree that even with the challenges, Netball Namibia - under its current leadership - fought the good fight to see the end of the season.

They say there will always be room for improvement as long as we admit our mistakes and continue to rectify them.

This is what the netball administration should do by paying attention to all the details that went wrong and rectifying them.

Netball Namibia should also pay attention to the details that went right and work on making them even better.

Things like marketing and making sure that there are more spectators at the stadiums should be some of the things at the top of their to-do list to make their brand more attractive to the public.

There have been complains about officials not listening to the cries of those who play the game.

It is important as administrators to hear the calls of those playing the game and addressing them accordingly.

The players and team officials also have to give time to the organisers to work on their demands.

It is these demands I feel need to be addressed correctly if the game of netball is to improve for the better.

The fact that Namibia failed to qualify to the netball world cup speaks volumes about the distance that exists between our netball and that of other countries in Africa.

Yes, we may not be too far away from reaching those standards, but we are not that close either.

We have so many instances of infighting going on in structures that people deviate from the real goal, which is to make netball a better sport.

Clearly, whatever the administrators did in the 90s was working because the team managed to qualify to global showpieces.

I am pleading with the current administration and those who will come in in future to revisit the blueprint the administrators used in the past to make our netball flourish.

People have been speaking about how some are willing to topple others at the top at any cost through making the work of those in current administration difficult.

It is the kind of politics they have to refrain from if they do not want to take the dark and lonely route that football has taken.

Football lost proper administrators as well as sponsors due to nepotism, infighting and egos, and now there are attempts to resuscitate it.

That is why any kind of alarm bells within netball structures in Namibia should be taken seriously.

Lastly, I would not do justice if I did not sing the praises of the current league's sponsors.

For many years, netball was in the dark and forgotten, but MTC came with that light that offered a beacon of hope to many players through their sponsorship.

I plead with the telecommunications company to remain patient with netball because they are a child learning to walk after crawling for many years.

One thing MTC can do is increase funding towards this league if they are to see the perfection they so long for.

I also beg Netball Namibia to improve the standards of the lower divisions that have really dropped this season.

Last but not least, more corporates must come on board for the sake of the players and the standards of netball in this country.

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