adminJillian Shava Sports Reporter
SIKHULILE High School will be hoping for better luck this year when they represent Bulawayo province for the third consecutive time in the annual Nash Stella Tea Under-17 netball tournament to be held in Marondera on July 25. Sikhulile High have established themselves as the undisputed Bulawayo secondary schools’ netball champions, but they somehow fall short when facing other provincial champions.
Last year, the Lobengula West-based school was knocked out in the semi-finals by Mwenezi High School of Masvingo, but team coach Karen Marechera said the girls are ready to dethrone defending champions Pamushana High of Bikita in Masvingo and bring the title to Bulawayo.
Sikhulile are set to leave the city today for Marondera to give the girls enough time to rest, train and acclimatise.
“We want our players to have time to rest and practise on the grounds they’ll be playing ahead of the actual tournament,” said Marechera.
Sikhulile beat Mpopoma High 15-6 in the provincial final at Ihlathi High on Friday to cement their dominance of netball in Bulawayo’s schools.
Team captain Michelle Muzanenhamo said they were confident of returning to Bulawayo with the coveted schools’ netball crown.
“It’s crunch time in Marondera, but we go with high hopes of winning the nationals for our province,” said the 16-year-old Muzanenhamo.
She said the rest of the girls were excited about getting another crack at the national title after falling short in the past two years.
Muzanenhamo said their coach has always reminded them that they were a good team that had made it this far and nothing could stop them now. Such faith in them, she said, was all the motivation they needed to win the nationals.
“We’ll be the team to beat (in Marondera),” Muzanenhamo declared boldly .
Besides fighting for the title, the girls from the country’s 10 provinces would also be battling for the limited slots in the national squad to represent Zimbabwe at the Confederation of Schools Sport Associations of Southern Africa (Cossasa) Games to be held in Bulawayo at the end of August.
Sikhulile Squad
Prudence Sibanda, Priviledge Ndlovu, Ntando Sibanda, Morememories Musharu, Sibusiso Mlotshwa, Lorraine Mangena, Michelle Muzanenhamo, Spiwe Chavapo, Sihle Ngulube, Nyarai Sithole, Primrose Moyo and Nobukhosi Ndlovu
Online Reporter