Kay Motsepe Schools Championship gives opportunities to young players

Dumisani Chauke, director of coaches for Netball SA, has praised the Kay Motsepe Schools Championship U-15 competition for giving valuable exposure to young players.

“Some [of the players] are playing on a real netball court for the first time. When I started playing netball in Malamulele, we were playing in the gravel, but that didn’t stop us,” Chauke said.

The competition that took place at Mutanga Lodge in Cullinan, Gauteng, on Saturday offers R1.4m in prize funding for different categories of winners — Botho (privileged schools), Ubuntu (disadvantaged schools), runners-up and third-place finishers. The winning schools use the prize money for selected legacy projects in their communities.

Idlangamabela Secondary School from Mpumalanga was crowned the champions and walked away with R400k; Jabulile Secondary School clinched second place, winning R200k, and Motjedi Secondary was third, getting R100k.

Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool from Pretoria were champions in the Botho section, Helpmekaar Kollege finished second, and Hoër Meisieskool Oranje were third.

“I’m a product of school netball,” Chauke said. “That’s why whenever they [the competition’s organisers] call me to come and do something, I can’t say no.

“It’s important because this is the pathway; this is the factory where all of us are manufactured. We cannot expect the results at the top if we are not developing it at the bottom and creating the opportunities for exposure for talent identification.

“Everyone can learn, and that is the opportunity that Kay Motsepe as well as Sanlam is offering our girls. They can learn, they can grow and they can become leaders all through the game of netball.

Idlangamabela Secondary coach Senzo Khumalo hopes to use the prize money to build a proper netball court at the school.

“We will have a talk with the school management on how to utilise the money, but definitely, it has to benefit netball,” Khumalo said.