World Netball (WN) and Netball South Africa (NSA) have hosted an ‘Africa Netball Development Day and Summit’ at the Netball World Cup 2023 (NWC2023) in Cape Town with Members and Ministers from across the continent attending including the Minister of Sports, Art and Culture Mr Zizi Kodwa.
The day was designed to promote World Netball and Africa Netball’s Development Strategies and plans, celebrate progress and showcase the legacy programmes of the Netball World Cup.
At the Summit guests heard from World Netball President, Dame Liz Nicholl DBE, NSA and Africa Netball President, Cecilia Molokwane, WN CEO Clare Briegal, Assistant Director Major Events Western Cape Kevin Maran, as well as Tim Garfield and Jack Preston from the Wallace Group & Monica Chidila from Sport in Action who spoke about the Netball World Cup 2019 legacy project, Net2019, in Zambia.
Speaking about the success of the development day Nicholl said: “With this our first ever Netball World Cup on the African continent, it was a wonderful opportunity to bring our Africa Netball family together and use this time to celebrate their successes, future potential, and the legacy impact of this World Cup.
“To facilitate thrilling world class PLAY is just one part of our World Netball strategies, we are also on a mission to GROW and INSPIRE, and this day was a fantastic opportunity for us to ensure their will be a long-lasting legacy after this very special Netball World Cup.”
Legacy programmes from the NWC2023 include coaching and officiating courses being delivered by NSA, in Botswana, Ghana and across South Africa, as well as netball facilities and equipment being provided to the Western Cape. The Government of the Republic of South Africa has made a significant investment in netball facilities across the country, including the provision of wooden sprung floors for each of the nine provinces.
The Community Hub site model was developed by the Wallace Group, a collaboration between eight of the leading ‘sport’ universities from the United Kingdom, who share a commitment to support the development of sport in Zambia, in conjunction with Sport in Action, World Netball, England Netball and UK Sport. It has brought netball to over 40 rural communities and over ten thousand participants across Zambia. These self-sustaining hub-sites are changing lives for individuals and communities. The model will now be introduced into other countries around the world.
Before and after the summit those in attendance also had the opportunity to watch four first-class netball matches; including England making history beating WN World Ranked number one Australia for the first time at a Netball World Cup, Jamaica beating the defending champions, New Zealand, and the hosts South Africa beating Uganda by two goals in an all-Africa clash.
With the NWC2023 Final set to take place on Sunday 6th August, there is still plenty of netball to enjoy and you can follow all the action on NetballPass.
