Jewels set for three World Cup qualifier warm-ups
Namibia’s women’s netball national team, the Debmarine Desert Jewels, will first play warm-up matches against Malawi, Kenya and Uganda ahead of their Netball World Cup Sydney 2027 qualifiers from 19 to 26 September in Nairobi, Kenya.
Jewels head coach Julene Meyer revealed this yesterday, confirming that the matches will be played from 16 to 18 September.
Meyer also confirmed that the players are currently in a pre-departure training camp at Windhoek Gymnasium, which began on Monday in the capital.
Meyer initially announced an 18-player contingent in July ahead of the continental showpiece, which will also double as the Africa Netball Cup.
She travelled with the squad to the Spar National Netball Championships in South Africa last month to give all the players court time and allow combinations to settle and be tested under pressure.
The squad was trimmed from 18 to 15 players on Sunday at the MTC Namibia Netball Premier League finale in Walvis Bay, with another three-player cut expected later this week as the country will take only 12 players to Kenya.
‘Big challenge’
Meyer admitted trimming the squad is “always a big challenge when the competition within the squad is good”. She explained that the tight calls came down to composure and decision-making under pressure.
“The opposition styles we will be facing also formed part of the final criteria when deciding between players who were very close to each other.
“All 15 players will, however, complete the pre-departure camp to ensure we have injury replacements ready should we need to fly someone in,” she noted.
The conclusion of the premier league has also allowed the players to give the national programme their “undivided attention” as they prepare to challenge for one of the two World Cup places available through the African qualifier.
Africa effectively has four places at Sydney 2027. South Africa and Uganda already qualified through their world rankings (fifth and sixth, respectively), while another two teams will earn their places through the Nairobi qualifier.
Meyer confirmed that the outfit’s final preparations are well underway, beginning on Monday with the players receiving their yellow fever vaccinations in the morning, followed by a team circle session in the afternoon and functional training in the evening.
Two court sessions daily
The rest of the week will see the Jewels undergo two court sessions daily, supplemented by functional training, recovery and specialised sessions.
“Evenings will be spent brushing up on our soft-skills programme with sessions on team culture, code of conduct, public speaking, mental resilience, WADA drug-free testing and certification, and safeguarding certification,” Meyer said.
From Friday, the evening sessions will shift to technical work focusing on strategies, analysis and game plans for their opponents ahead of the team’s send-off at the Namibia Sports Commission on Monday morning and departure the following day.
“We will start our warm-up games on Wednesday [next week] evening to dust off the final rust and fine-tune our combinations.
“We want to ensure we are ready to fire on all cylinders when we start the tournament on Sunday at 12:00 against Botswana,” she explained.
The other teams at the event will be Africa Netball Cup defending champions South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, hosts Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria.
Comments
Sportwrap
No comments have been left on this article