The National Organising Committee entrusted with overseeing the affairs of netball until a new executive committee is elected, has organised national trials which will take place this weekend in preparation for two international events this month.
The chairman of the NOC, Abner Xoagub said that the trials would take place in Windhoek on September 12 and 13 in preparation for the COSANA Championships in Durban, South Africa on 18-24 September and an Inter-Nations Netball Tournament in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 26 September to 3 October.
“This is the first task of the Organising Committee, to get the national trials sorted out. The regions must select teams to attend the national trials on Saturday and Sunday. A squad of 22 players will be selected which will go into camp on 15 September in preparation for the COSANA Championships,” he said.
“This is a golden opportunity for Namibia to get back into international netball, because, depending on our performance, Namibia will be granted an opportunity to get back into the World Cup qualifying rounds,” he said.
Xoagub said that the holding of national trials was the first task that the NOC had to complete, in terms of a directive from the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture.
The terms of reference of the NOC include revising and amending the constitution of the All Namibia Netball Association; the establishment of functional regional and national structures; and to facilitate the elections of the regional structures and the appointment of a new executive and council for ANNA.
The members of the NOC were elected on 18 July and consist of Xoagub as the chairperson, Elize Petersen, Isaac Hamata and Monica Bohitile. A fifth member who was elected, Nico Smith, could not be accommodated on the committee as he is an active politician.
The term of office for the NOC is 18 months, while the members are not allowed to stand for ANNA elections.
According to Xoagub the constitutional review of ANNA will be inclusive and transparent and will involve members of other sport codes as well as legal experts. He however said that a lot of the regions would have to be built up.
“A lot of the regions are under developed and due to the vastness of our country, we don’t have enough resources. It will be very difficult, but we will have to put up structures in the regions so that the under developed areas are also represented at national level,” he said.
The chief administrator of the Namibia Sport Commission Rusten Mogane said that they were still consulting with the current ANNA executive headed by Carol Garoes, but that the NOC would have the final say in matters relating to netball.
“The organising committee reports to the Namibia Sport Commission. We will consult with the ANNA executive, but the organising committee will make the final decisions,” he said.