Jordaan-Msomi coaching duo chase more glory at Spar National Netball Championships
Netball Champs
Johannesburg players celebrate with the Spar National Netball Championships trophy after beating Mangaung 53-52 in last year's senior A final in Johannesburg. They will start the defence of their title on Monday next week.
Image: Reg Caldecott
The blossoming coaching duo of Dr Elsje Jordaan and Bongi Msomi, who led the Gauteng Golden Fireballs to Telkom Netball League glory earlier this year, will hope to do the same for the Johannesburg under-21 and senior teams at next week’s Spar National Netball League in Boksburg, Gauteng.
The triumph in Durban heralded the extension of a fruitful partnership going back to the days when Msomi, the celebrated former national team skipper, played under Jordaan at the Fireballs and for the Proteas.
She took another huge step forward in her fledgling coaching career as Jordaan’s assistant at the TNL but continues to prove herself as a head coach – guiding the University of Johannesburg (UJ) to the 2025 USSA title. Her reputation would only be enhanced should she guide the Johannesburg Netball Association (JNA) U21 A-side to back-to-back titles.
“I’m super-excited to have another chance to coach the JNA team. We did really well last year and finished as champions,” Msomi said.
“We know this year is going to be tough. All the Under-21s that were part of the World Cup (in Gibraltar) are back in their districts, which is gong to lead to great competition. It’s hard to tell who is going to be at the top but, like we did last year, we’re going to take it one game at a time.”
Coach Bongi Msomi (kneeling) will hope to lead her Johannesburg U21 side to back-to-back titles at next week's National Netball Championships.
Image: Reg Caldecott
While the Baby Proteas will be back in action, the Proteas players will miss this year’s championships as they will be in camp preparing to defend their African Netball Cup title in Malawi early in December.
With a record 119 districts competing for the senior A title at the championships, Jordaan also knows that she will have her work cut out for her in trying to secure a fourth title in a row for the Johannesburg senior team.
“JNA have won the championships in the last three years and we’re proud of those results, but it’s a new year with new challenges and teams, and we are working hard at the moment and we’re hoping that we can defend our title. We hope for a good tournament where we can play good, solid netball,” she said.
More than 2 200 players and 196 umpires and technical officials will descend on Dr EG Jansen High School for the feast of netball from Monday, December 1.