Nobubele Phuza, a member of the Rhodes University Netball Club, has been selected for the South African netball squad that will be playing at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow from 23 July to 3 August 2014.
“I am very excited about the selection and humbled by the thought of playing in the senior team,” she said.
Phuza represented the country at the under-21 World Youth Netball Championships earlier this year.
She was then invited to play in the Diamond Challenge in Port Elizabeth two weeks ago.
This functioned as trials for players hoping to get into the senior squad. Along with other South Africans, there were also teams from Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Phuza, 20, is completing her Bachelor of Science and has been a member of the Rhodes first netball team since enrolling at Rhodes in 2011.
Phuza said she’d thought she was going to do her Honours, then work while she played the sport casually; however, this selection had inspired her to take her academic and sporting endeavours equally seriously.
“I’m definitely going to be putting in the hours for the next few months, working hard to get into that final team of 12 as wing defence,” she said.
Phuza heaped praise upon her trainer, Antonio Blom. She said she was grateful for all the time and hard work he had put into getting her into her best condition.
She said his work with her had really paid off.
“Netball is growing in the Eastern Cape and I know that Rhodes University is going to be a part of that evolution,” Phuza continued.
She also mentioned Tafadzwa Chitokwindo and Natalie Ross, who won Rhodes Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year respectively in 2013, as her inspiration.
“I can’t say with certainty what my end goal is, but I would like to see myself in the netball team that will represent SA when netball finally becomes an Olympic sport.”
By Brandon Yates
Source: Grocott’s Mail
Picture source: Activate online