Smart Girls stun netball establishment 

Smart Girls from Kavango East and Okamwandi United from Oshana qualified for the MTC Netball Premier League after the promotion play-off matches on Saturday. 

They will be joined by Mighty Gunners and Wanderers who managed to avoid relegation after finishing first and second respectively in Saturday’s playoffs.

But it is the youthful Smart Girls team from Shinyungwe village in Kavango East, which is also the home of Namibian sprinter Christine Mboma, that’s the talk of town, after they clinched a spot in the premier league. 

Most of their players were members of the Kavango East team that won the u20 title at last year’s Namibia Newspaper Cup in Outjo, where they beat Omaheke 40-21 in the final. 

Their coach Frans Ndara congratulated his players, saying they need to believe in themselves. 

“Firstly I would like to say to the players, that they need to believe in themselves, because the talent that they have should not be lost – we need to nurture their talent so that they can take over the ageing players in our country,” he said. 

“So the future is there’s but they need to stay fit and motivated – they should just do it willingly by themselves because they have the talent,” he added. 

Ndara called on the leaders of the regions to provide opportunities for young players in the regions. 

“Now to the leadership of different regions, I would like to appeal to them to engage young people, especially the girls. Because these girls sometimes will have to go out there and do other funny activitiies, that will take away their humanity. They need to at least engage them with games like the league, especially starting from the academies. They need to have those ones coming in – as the older ones are exiting, the younger ones are coming in, so at least the development is fluent,” he said. 

Ndara said they face many challenges in Kavango East. 

“Kavango is a region that does not have facilities. We would really like some new facilities so we are appealing to the ministry to at least see how these facilities can be availed in Kavango East. We have the talent in Kavango, so if we get such facilities then we will definitely get more players – we have many of them that side, but the facilities are missing,” he said. 

“They are deep in the rural area of Shinyungwe village, where Christine Mboma came from, and most of them are still school-going kids in Grade 10 and 11. The girls are very excited because this was their goal from the start – we said if God wishes us to have it, then we will be very excited,” he added. 

The president of Netball Namibia, Juanitha Witbeen said they need to improve their developmental efforts. 

“With what we witnessed today we are really excited for the 2026 league that will take place throughout the year. There are exciting development teams coming through the regions that are really trying to do their utmost best, but I think we really need to work more on development, with all the teams coming through now.

“Also we could not have done it without MTC Namibia who have supported us for the past six years – we appreciate and thank them for being part and parcel of this journey. Thank you so much for running this race with us, we still have a long way to go but we will continue to make the nation proud in terms of development and growth, locally and internationally,” she said. 

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