Under-21netball national team coach Noel Mussa has admitted that time is running out for preparations for the Under-21 Netball World Youth Cup scheduled for September in Gibraltar.
He said this after being reminded that Malawi is the only Group D team yet to start preparations for the global showpiece.
South Africa’s Spar Baby Proteas, Barbados, Fiji and Trinidad & Tobago have all intensified their tune-ups.
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“We really need to engage an extra gear in preparations as is the case with our opponents in the pool. We are in a tough group which demands creativity to match the standard since all the teams in our pool have different styles of play,” Mussa said.
Despite that, the coach said his charges are being kept active through online training sessions.
Mussa said the fact that most of the Under-21 netball players have little or no international experience, going to the World Youth Cup without proper preparations could be suicidal.
Initially, Netball Association of Malawi planned to send the squad to South Africa alongside the Senior Queens for the recent Test Series as part of their preparations, but that failed as the hosts said the majority of their Under-21 players could be in school at that time.
Since then, the 22-player squad has been inactive yet the players need ample time to gel, build combinations and get international exposure ahead of the event in the next six months.
It was through such a global youth championship in 2009 that Malawi’s export Mwawi Kumwenda-M’bwana was spotted by Australian club Peninsular Waves to become the country’s first professional netball player abroad.
But NAM general secretary Yamikani Kauma yesterday said they are aware that time is running out for the Under-21 national team and they are doing something about it.
She said they have planned to call the team into camp in April and there is a possibility of the team competing in a mini-tournament that the Confederation of Southern Africa Netball Associations (Cosana) is organising in May in Namibia to prepare World Youth Cup-bound teams.
“Cosana has already sent us an invitation letter to the mini tournament and we are meeting the Malawi National Council of Sports this weekend to present our budget,” said Kauma.
“We have planned to also include the Under-19 national team, which is preparing for the African Union Sports Council Region V Games.”
