Johannesburg - “We are literally counting down the days to when it starts,” Izette Griesel said with a gleam in her eye. “It is six months to go," she continued.
“Yes, there is a lot of pressure on us. It is in South Africa; it is on home soil, but we will have our family and friends here and, hopefully, the whole country to support us. We are very excited to show the world what we’ve got.”
Many will argue that the optimism of the Spar Proteas’ Griesel is slightly unfounded.
After all, the results of the South African senior netball team will record three narrow losses and a draw in the recently concluded Quad Series against Australia, England and New Zealand.
This, according to Griesel, will not perturb the Proteas as they build towards the Netball World Cup 2023, hosted in Cape Town from late July. Indeed, such sanguineness is the only opinion that might matter.
For you see, although the Proteas suffered mostly defeat during the tournament, they did so fighting to the utmost end, while learning much about themselves and what they are truly capable of. The 46-46 draw against third-ranked England was a particular epiphany and one that will help the team’s self-belief.
Said Griesel: “We actually realised that sometimes we can doubt ourselves when we play the top countries in the world. We realised that we could beat the top countries, that we are competitive. We can take them.
“We just need to start believing. Yes, there are a lot of things we can work on. We still have six months and we are putting in the work and there is still a lot to learn.
“The game time that lies ahead of us is great to especially work on those things.
“The camps we have [are a chance] to just gel even more and to work on the small things that we as a team can conquer.”
Despite the positivity, Griesel is not deceived by the labours that lie ahead, if the Proteas are to make a success of the coming World Cup. While speaking to IOL Sport at the launch of Telkom’s Standing Tall campaign, in partnership with Netball South Africa, she revealed that much of that work will be of a psychological nature.
“We were ahead most of the games,” she said, referring again to the Quad Series.
"At one point we started falling behind (against England) and then by the end it was a draw. That just shows that we are hungry enough to take the top countries in the world. We must just start showing it...
“It showed that we as a team can stand together.
Proteas are a work in progress but things are coming together, says captain Bongi Msomi
“If one person makes a bad pass, the defenders are there to get the ball back. We have a lot of BMT, we must start doing it.”
Currently, the Proteas are scattered around the world playing in leagues in Australia, England and New Zealand. As revealed by Griesel, the SA-based players will have started their trek to Australia this past Thursday to play matches in Melbourne as part of their preparations for the showpiece event later this year.