Johannesburg, South Africa – Building on the highly successful hockey tournaments, SPAR KZN are proud to announce, in association with SchoolgirlSport (SGS), the exciting and brand new SPAR Schoolgirls’ Fast 5’s Netball Tournament that tips off this August.
The hockey tournament that got rolling in KZN nine years ago is now a popular highlight on the national schools sporting calendar. Complementing it, this netball challenge will begin with four tournaments this year in four regions, with the intention of twelve teams taking to the courts in each area.
Netting the first tournament, Amanzimtoti will be hosting at the Kuswag High School courts, which will have teams from around Durban on Saturday 3rd August, followed by Southcity Christian School in Margate hosting teams in the Southern KZN areas on Saturday 24th August. Empangeni High School will host Northern Coastal area on Saturday 31 August, and Voortrekker will host the final tournament with the Pietermaritzburg schools on Saturday 5th October.
The running of the programme will differ slightly from region to region, depending on the number of schools and if the hosts will run games in a round robin or pool game format. In the first tournament, Toti’s games will last an action packed 15 minutes each with the 11 teams playing a round robin, the match will have two 6 minute halves with a 2 minute break and 1 minute change over time allocation.
The coaches can give instructions from the sideline during play, and they have an unlimited allowance for substitutions. Ten players can represent each team, with coaches ensuring five players are constantly on the court – Goal Shooter (GS), Goal Attack (GA), Centre (C), Goal Defence (GD) and Goal Keeper (GK).
Schools participating in the inaugural tournament are Hillcrest High School, Kuswag High School, Amanzimtoti High School, Northlands Girls’ High School, Rossburgh High School, Durban North College, Durban Girls’ High School, Kingsway High School, KwaMakhutha High School, Gelofte High School and Ridgepark College.
This new tournament rides the crest of the wave of excitement around netball in SA as after the Proteas finished fourth in the 15th Netball World Cup after a sensational and thrilling world cup campaign. During the World Cup, the Mayor of Liverpool handed over the Netball Federation Flag to the upcoming host for the 2023 Netball World Cup, Cape Town.
Max Oliva, MD of SPAR KZN stated, “Signaling the start of an exciting journey for young netball players around South Africa, tournaments such as our SPAR Schoolgirls’ Fast 5’s Netball Tournament opens up a whole world of potential for so many talented, unearthed players from outlying areas that dream of wearing the green and gold.”
Director of SchoolGirlSport, Les Galloway enthused, “We are so looking forward to getting this tournament up-and-running, it has the opportunity to grow and make a real impact on our future netball stars. Who knows, young women participating in the inaugural Fast 5’s could be representing our country at the 2023 World Cup.”
