The Capricorn Group Schools Netball League was launched for the fourth consecutive year at Windhoek Gymnasium in Windhoek yesterday.
Marlize Horn of the Capricorn Group said that the league had made a positive impact in promoting netball in both primary and secondary schools and that this year's league will see an increase in participating schools and teams.
"Capricorn Group is proud to be the sponsor of this national league since 2019 when we tookover the sponsorship from our subsidiary, Bank Windhoek. As a group we are very proud of our contribution towards the promotion and development of women's sport, particularly netball, over many years in Namibia by offering aplatform for netball players from senior primary to secondary schools to compete for a national title," she said.
A total of 690 players from 69 teams from 24 schools will participate in the competition, with 11 being public schools and 13 private schools. The schools represent eight of Namibia's 14 regions namely Khomas, //Kharas, Hardap, Otjozondjupa, Kunene, Oshikoto, Omaheke and Erongo, while matches will be held in Windhoek, Swakopmund, Otjiwarongo, Outjo, Rehoboth and Stampriet.
The players will compete in six different age groups ranging from u12 to u19, for the 2023 Capricorn Group Schools Netball League national championships title.
The first matches will be held this coming weekend at the Wanderers netball courts, while the finals will be held on 25 and 26 August.
Horn also thanked the league coordinator Liezel Garbers for her hard work in organising the league.
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The interim national coordinator of the Namibia School Sport Union, Roger Kambatuku thanked the Capricorn Group for their sponsorship, saying that it helped them reach their goals of developing young talented players.
"One of the objectives that we have set ourselves this year and in the coming years is that we must move from the old NSSU way where kids were just called for trials over a weekend before a team was selected. We want to move into what we call long-term athlete development (LTAD) and that will only happen if they can play in more leagues," he said.
"That is why a sponsorship like this will go a long way to helping us achieve our objective of implementing this LTAD so that these kids can be engaged to play netball over a period of time as opposed to only being called up once in a while," he added.
Kambatuku said they should try and include more schools in the competition.
"I think its incumbent upon us to try and broaden the spectrum of the participating schools, even if we have to go regionally and maybe establish regional leagues, so that we make sure that all schools can participate," he said.
