Elmeré van den Berg, a student at North West University who also plays for the North West Flames, was selected for the South Africa National Netball Team (Spar Proteas), which will represent the country at the 2023 Netball World Cup, which will take place in Cape Town from July 28 to August 6.
With simply a month to go before the beginning of the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, Netball South Africa (NSA) affirmed the fifteen-player squad that will represent South Africa at the first African stage Netball World Cup.
The following are the players that have been selected to wear the green and gold for South Africa at the Netball World Cup in 2023:
Bongiwe Msomi (Captain); Karla Pretorius (Vice Captain); Khanyisa Chawane; Izette Griesel; Owethu Ngubane; Refiloe Nketsa; Phumza Maweni; Lenize Potgieter; Lefebre Rademan; Nicola Smith; Jeante Strydom; Nichole Taljaard; Elmere van der Berg; Shadine van der Merwe, Ine-Mari Venter.
Cecilia Molokwane, Netball South Africa President, says that the chosen players are the best candidates to represent the country and that they are pleased with them. "We have spoken to the players and team at large about the importance of this world cup and what we expect of them without putting pressure on them. From Netball South Africa, we are pleased with the selected players and know they will do well. We are throwing all the much-needed support to the team, and we have full confidence in that and what they can deliver for us. This is their one chance to write their names in the history books."
Head coach Norma Plummer of the SPAR Proteas has been in camp with a group of South African players who have been out of the Telkom Netball League for four weeks. Due to commitments in their respective international leagues, overseas players could not attend this camp. The group collected at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sports (SAS), which has been their preparation base beginning 2022 on May 7 2023, and have worked intimately with the Australian mentor for her to choose her group. After doing so once more in 2019, Plummer will lead her South African team to their second World Cup in a row. She believes that she has chosen the best players to represent South Africa.
"We have been in camp since May 7 and have worked very hard with the players at our disposal. We have had some technical and tactical aspects of the game put to the players and at their game. We also managed to get some practice matches, so we are 100 percent sure. We have chosen the best 15 players (12 travelling and 3 reserves), which we believe are the best options," said Plummer.
The players will return to their domestic and provincial teams for the remainder of the league, which ends on July 1, 2023. They will meet in Stellenbosch for the last stretch of the World Cup preparations.
“As a federation, we have given Coach Norma and the management team all the support they needed in preparing the best team for the World Cup. This will be the first time in sixty years that a Netball World Cup is hosted on African soil. Therefore our expectations for a podium finish as hosts are fair. We can't host and become spectators in our backyard – we need to make sure that South Africa and other African countries make it to the podium come August 6 2023," said Molokwane.
The 2023 Netball World starts on July 28 until August 6 2023 and will be played at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), and all matches will be broadcasted on both free-to-air SABC and pay TV channel Supersport.
