Zukile Majova
Just about every weekend the beautiful infrastructure of Mount Ayliff Stadium and sporting grounds burst into life with dozens of netball teams flocking in from all over the Alfred Nzo District in the Eastern Cape.
Too often infrastructure built with taxpayers money turns into white elephants with no sporting codes using it.
Not here.
Some 20 teams from surrounding towns including Matatiele, Mbizana, EmaXasibeni, KwaBhaca and Ntabankulu will once again converge on Sunday.
The district has also started recruiting men into the sport with three teams already registered for a Men’s Netball league.
Avela Theni, a marketing and advertising executive during the week, has just formed a team in Mt Ayliff with work colleagues and friends from local companies.
“We are all working professionals who acquired a love of netball during our high school days.
“And now we are playing for fun but also for exercising and weight management.
“It’s all good fun with music and dancing.”
All this Netball jamboree has been brought to life by a new partnership between Netball SA and soft drinks manufacturer Twizza has pumped money into the sport, forming the Twizza Netball Club Championships.
The tournament just kickstarted in May and runs until the end of September, with teams broken down into districts, provincial and national divisions.
The competition has also opened opportunities for netball enthusiasts who are coaches, referees and administrators to show their skills and receive professional guidance and training.
Netball SA president Cecelia Molokwane praised the partnership with Twizza as an opportunity to take competitive netball to rural areas of the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and other less urbanised provinces.
“We believe this is the beginning of bigger things to come. I want to encourage all players to get involved in this tournament and challenge the districts to make sure we make this possible.”
So far 52 districts representing some 1 040 teams across the country are participating in the tournament.
After two games played in the Alfred Nzo District Twizza League, Matat NC leads the league with four points, Spears are in second position also with four points and Crinums in third with four points.
The next round of matches are scheduled for Sunday.
