Pretoria - Driven by passion and a love for sport from a young age inspires netball coach Emily Mathosa to always put effort in her chosen craft.
She is the coach for the South African team which will travel to Lilongwe for the 2022 Region V Games. The team has more than 250 individuals across 11 sporting codes.
The Malawi games are scheduled for December 2 to 12.
Mathosa said she was excited about the upcoming games, and she and her team members had been waiting for them for a while.
“I’m really excited about the tournament. We are looking forward to it. I’ll be making sure the team does well together with my assistant coach throughout the tournament.”
She said she was looking forward to leading the girls into and through the tournament and was highly confident the girls would “give a good fight” in each game they played.
“They are ready to take to the court and showcase their talent.”
Mathosa said that her mother was her greatest inspiration and had pushed and supported her every step of the way.
She coaches both female and male players, and in the past 10 years of being a coach, she has achieved a lot of things.
She is the 2022 Coach of the Year at the Tshwane University of Technology, Cucsa Games Malawi-SA Netball gold medallist, Ausc Region V games at Lesotho-SA U19 netball gold medallist, 2022 SA Netball Championships gold medalist and 2022 Spar National championships silver medallist.
She also won a gold medal in the Tshwane U19 B section as well as Gauteng Classic Clash and a bronze in the 2021 National Club Twizza Championships.
In 2021, as head coach of the Limpopo Baobabs, she won the Telkom Netball League. With Gauteng Jaguars, she won gold in the 2021 National Men’s Netball championships. Mathosa was also named Best Club member coach at the Tshwane University of Technology for the past two years.
Losing some games as a coach has been one of the challenges she encountered.
“Losing simply teaches me to go back to the drawing board and try all over again. It’s a game, after all. At times you win, and at times you lose.”
They are expecting to feel the pressure during the competition because they do not know the teams they will be up against, but she is confident her team will be able to handle the pressure on court, she added.
And the whole team was excited and looking forward to representing the country in Africa, and wanted to win the tournament.
“Nerves will kick in eventually, but I believe we will pull through.
“The outcome I’m hoping for in this tournament is to finish on top.
“We won gold last year, so it will be very great to lift the trophy again and bring it back home. We have to defend the title,” Mathosa said.
Pretoria News