National Champs to expose rural talent - Jenny van Dyk

This year’s tournament will see clubs from different districts across the country vie for the national title at the Ellis Park Arena from 2 - 7 December. 

Speaking to SABC Sport, Van Dyk is happy that this competition allows local and rural districts to showcase the unearthed talent they possess.

"The Spar National Championships is a really important tournament for us because of the fact that everybody is playing in their district teams, which gives more players opportunity to play," said van Dyk.

"So, for us, during the TNL, we play provinces – and in those provinces, there are quite a lot of districts, which means not everybody within the districts get to showcase their talent.

"But in the Spar National Championships, you have all the districts and levels, and you don't just pick up all the strong players from the strong university systems and structures, and all the dominant provinces.

"But you also get a look at the more local, rural talent, which is such an important part of our [netball] development."

Despite the Proteas’ intense preparation for the Africa Cup taking place next month, Van Dyk says the national team will make time to go and support at the National Championships.

"We will be at the Spar National Championships, training there [at Ellis Park Arena] for the week, and just being involved and showing our support for Spar and the product," she added.

"Also, the U21 [national] team will be participating in the tournament, they are preparing for the World Cup next year, so even for them having this opportunity to play against all the other teams is also quite important."

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