The SPAR Madibaz team are determined to put on a display worthy of the occasion when the Varsity Netball tournament kicks off in Port Elizabeth next weekend.<\/p>\n
Nelson Mandela University will be one of the hosts of a bumper weekend as the tournament launches with four matches on August 26 and 27 at the Madibaz Indoor Sports Centre, South Campus.<\/p>\n
Besides the Madibaz team, local fans will be able to see sides from Stellenbosch, University of Western Cape and Vaal University of Technology in action.<\/p>\n
Madibaz Sport Netball manager Melinda Goosen said they were looking forward to this opportunity to showcase not only their netball prowess, but also what the university had to offer.<\/p>\n
The matches on the Sunday (August 26) will be televised live.<\/p>\n
“Not only will there be home-ground advantage, but there will also be the fact of having home support,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It is always great to bring netball closer to our fans and this is a perfect opportunity to showcase our players and their talents to our immediate community, as well as to the greater community of Nelson Mandela Bay.”<\/p>\n
She added that a lot of work went into hosting a weekend of this nature and it was a significant occasion for Mandela University.<\/p>\n
“Playing at home means we can show the rest of the country our beautiful university and what it has to offer.<\/p>\n
“Varsity netball, as a competition, has grown its viewership over the past years and so it is important to demonstrate that we are a university of choice in South Africa.”<\/p>\n
Goosen added that the double-header of matches would provide a chance for local netball fans to see many top players in action.<\/p>\n
“Netball is very popular in Nelson Mandela Bay and we are privileged to have great talent in our local team.<\/p>\n
“In addition, you can watch the top student players in the country go head to head in clashes that will set the tone for the rest of the tournament.<\/p>\n
“We would love to see strong support for the Madibaz team to help them reach new heights in the competition.”<\/p>\n
She felt Varsity Netball was the perfect platform for any young player with aspirations to go far in the sport.<\/p>\n
“The world is taking note of South African netball and many Protea players have come through Varsity Netball to achieve greater success in the sport,” said Goosen.<\/p>\n
“We have our very own Zanele Vimbela, who played for Madibaz and is now competing in the English premier league.”<\/p>\n
Playing a key role behind the development of Madibaz netball are team sponsors SPAR Eastern Cape, to whom Goosen paid tribute for their support.<\/p>\n
“SPAR have been involved with Madibaz netball for many years now and we are privileged to be associated with such a dynamic brand,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Although Varsity Netball is the highlight of the season, the players have a demanding netball schedule throughout the year, beginning their training in January.<\/p>\n
“The significance of having sponsors such as SPAR does not only apply to netball on the court, but also in preparing them for many different skills.<\/p>\n
“Having the financial support makes it possible for us to provide opportunities for our players to venture into different areas such as coaching, umpiring or qualifying as technical officials.<\/p>\n
“This is crucial as one day these will be the players who will plough back into the sport they so loved playing in their younger years.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The SPAR Madibaz team are determined to put on a display worthy of the occasion when the Varsity Netball tournament kicks off in Port Elizabeth next weekend. Nelson Mandela University will be one of the hosts of a bumper weekend as the tournament launches with four matches on August 26 and 27 at the Madibaz […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":58746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1892,2800,1896,1898,1893],"class_list":["post-21319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-more-sport","tag-madibaz-netball","tag-nelson-mandela-university","tag-netball","tag-spar","tag-varsity-netball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21319\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}