The Royals lose on their home ground

By Emily Setona

KESTELL – In a bid to revive and ignite the spirit of netball in Kestell, teams from Qwaqwa played several matches at Retief High school’s netball courts that were highlighted with fierce competition and exhilarating team spirit from the players.

Fatima Mngomezulu the coach to The Royals under 14, 15 and 19 team together along with Priscilla Mokoena the coach to The Venomous girls, The Jaguars, and Infinity Wars from Qwaqwa arranged a spectacular day of friendly matches that were held on February 2 in Kestell.

“The idea for these friendly matches is to revive the sprit of netball in Kestell because they are part of Maluti – a – Phofung (MAP) and most tournaments are usually played and hosted in Qwaqwa that’s why I saw it fit to organize with Fatima to bring the game of netball to Kestell,” Mokoena said while talking to The Guard.

The under 14 teams saw Venomous girls beat The Royals under 14 with a score of 11 – 5, while the under 15 teams also saw a win go to the Qwaqwa team The Jaguars with a score of 16 – 2 against The Royals under 15 team. The Under 19 match was intense and saw Infinity Wars win with a whopping 27 – 5 against The Royals under 19 team.

The Royals (yellow) vs Disaster (green) during friendly match at Retief high school.

Instead of being a sour loser coach Mnomezulu said that the tournament was fun despite the loses and she is happy that the teams from Qwaqwa came to play with her teams in Kestell. “These were friendly matches and we had fun despite the glitches here and there but all in all I appreciate the support from Qwaqwa and enjoyed watching my teams play and do their best,” Mngomezulu said.

Dieketseng Rasenyalo who was the umpire throughout the tournament said the following in an interview with The Guard, “Several fantastic matches were played, and the day was fun, the players exhibited great team spirit but in my view the teams from Qwaqwa played better than The Royals from Kestell overall.”