‘We do things upside down’

Malawi national netball team coach Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa has opened up how her efforts to ensure the team prepares well for major tournaments are frustrated by lack of support from stakeholders.

The Malawi Queens mentor said one of her challenges is that she never gets an opportunity to assess the players by playing international friendly matches before a major tournament.

She said for decades, the Queens have not played an international friendly to prepare for a major competition, something the coach says is retrogressive as it does not give her a chance to assess the players before naming her final squad.

She said: “We don’t play friendlies; I don’t remember playing any. We just train [for] a week and go for a big tournament. There is nothing like assessing of players.”

The coach’s sentiments come after the Queens struggled at PacificAus Netball Series in Australia where they finished runners-up to Tonga.

During the tournament, sixth ranked Queens played six back-to-back matches and visibly lacked match fitness.

But still, they won all their three Pool A games against lowly ranked Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Samoa to top the group before suffering their first loss to Zambia in an inter-group match.

The Queens then recovered to beat the Zambians in the semis, but could not withstand the heat against seventh-ranked Tonga in the final which the Oceania side dominated in all the quarters.

Chawinga-Kaluwa said during the tournament it was obvious that playing back-to-back had a toll on the poorly prepared Queens.

She said: “We completely failed to adapt to the play we wanted. Tonga was composed and got the best of us.

“It wasn’t easy as the girls played six days back-to-back and considering the training we did, they gave their all.

“To withstand back-to-back games, you really need total fitness,” she said.

On his part, Malawi Queens captain Jane Chimaliro concurred with her coach on lack of adequate preparations.

She said: “We struggled at the tournament because all our opponents, whom we have been beating previously, have made great improvement unlike our team since we don’t play friendlies before going for tournaments.

“I believe that with proper preparations, we can become a strong team and start winning trophies.”

Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) had planned that the Queens would camp for 14 days during the first phase of preparations.

However, the team ended up only camping for 10 days.

In the second phase of preparations, the team only trained for seven days instead of 14 days.

NAM said it had to break camp due to lack of funding from government.

Chawinga-Kaluwa did not mince words on her frustration on the challenges she faces.

She said: “I have said again and again that we need to step up and do things the right way. Meaning, we do things upside down.”

Malawi National Council of Sports chairperson Sunduzwayo Madise promised full financial support for the Queens, but said NAM has a responsibility to ensure the Queens prepare well for competitions.

He said: “As council we don’t implement programmes. We only fund programmes presented to us by our affiliates in line with our budget allocations.

“But if indeed the matches for the Queens are preceded by poor planning, then it’s unfortunate. Failure to plan is planning to fail. You don’t win by accident .You must plan. And good preparations are part of good planning.”

NAM general secretary Isaac Chimwala said the association will plan well for the Queens preparations for the forthcoming World Netball Cup.

He said: “We will give her [Chawinga] full support.”