Ekurhuleni A aims for continued National Championships success

The Gauteng side won the national title in October last year after a hard fought 58-54 victory over Johannesburg A at Ellis Park Arena.

Despite the plan to add new players to the squad, Rathethe says it will be important to maintain the team’s identity to succeed in 2025.

"You can imagine six new players coming in of which four of those players were young players from the under23 so basically they played previously but as under23. So, the talent was quite amazing but more than anything I'd like to give credit to the teamwork and the discipline and the understanding of the game from all the players,” Rathete said.

“I mean when we now look back and reflect on the National Championships we can all agree that we are one of the teams that at some point nobody thought we'll win the Championship but we came back, we kept that composure, we understood the game, we showed maturity and we managed to be the defending champions.

“So, when it comes to what it will I think more than anything still, we have a lot of young talent also in our under23 team, the team that was actually participating in the National Championship last year. Maybe a few additions from that side as well, however, we'll still like to keep the dynamics of the team as is so that we allow growth."

READ: Elsje Jordaan on turning Johannesburg into a netball powerhouse

The former Jaguars assistant coach strongly believes that experienced coaches have a role to play to help in the upliftment of men’s netball in the country.

"The role of experienced coaches is of fundamental importance when it comes to the upliftment of the male netball because take myself for example, most of my experience comes from the female side of it,” she added.

“I've been with the Jaguars for five years, I started as a statistician and then I became an assistant coach under coach Jenny van Wyk. The knowledge and experience that I acquired from her and the team is rather helping at the moment with guiding and leading the Ekurhuleni males.

“I also think that adding more coaches will also uplift the male side because I mean when it comes to male netball, it's all about speed, it's all about skill, it's all about talent but then with the right direction, it shapes it differently.

“I mean, it brings strategy, it brings the fundamental importance and the understanding of what and how netball should be played."