Proteas to approach opening match against Jamaica with a positive mentality

The three-match test series will take place from 18 to 25 January at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston.

Speaking at a virtual media presser, Van Dyk says the general approach for the national team is to win matches despite the calibre of the opponents.

"We are competitive enough to be able to grind and work towards a win at the end, by all means, we know it's not the easiest thing, it's easier said than done, this is a great side that we are playing against but I've said this quite a few times, we will never move into a tournament and we will never be touring anywhere and the goal will not be for us to win,” van Dyk said.

“Our goal is to always go out there, put our best foot forward to work towards the win. The wins will always come if the standard of netball is how it should be. We've had quite a good look at the semifinals that they played against Australia in the 2023 World Cup as well and you need to play a game and the inner rate needs to be really low in order to keep up.

“So, if we can put that standard on court, we definitely have a chance to compete for a win."

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The Jamaica tour will form part of the Proteas preparations for the Vitality Four Nations Cup taking place next month in the United Kingdom.

Van Dyk says the team can only reach its goal of becoming number one in the world, by testing themselves against the best in global netball.

"It is such an important tournament for us to see where we are at, internationally. We wanna be the best in the world one day and we've got a long-term plan, we've got a short-term plan,” the coach added.

“And for us, it's so important to be competitive and it's so important for us to bring our style, the way we play to this game so that we can play quite a lot of internationals, get the best in the world. The more we play, the better we will become."