Affies keep winning run

Ernest Mabasa

As the umpire blew the final whistle last Tuesday, on home soil, Afrikaanse Hoer Meisieskool (Affies) celebrated their 92^nd consecutive win in two years.

Affies beat Hoerskool Garsfontein 23-18 in the Tshwane Jubilee League to keep their unbeaten run alive. The National Schools Netball Championship title holders have so far played 34 games and won all and are hoping to keep the momentum going through hard work and determination.

It seems their tour to Australia and New Zealand brought some positive results for the team as their team manager, Bertus de Klerk says they learnt a lot from it. De Klerk said they got some valuable advice from former Silver Ferns (New Zealand netball team) player and Coach Yvonne Willering which they still use to ensure their competitiveness.

“As part of our celebration for our championship title, we undertook a tour to Australia and New Zeeland from 3 April to 13 April this year as well. It was very great. Now we are leading in the log. It shows consistence in our team. We are confident that our club is going to win again this year. We are very happy,” said de Klerk.

Even though they have been doing well, Coach Rene de Klerk was not very pleased with the girls’ performance against Hoerskool Garsfontein, which was a game in which at the third quarter; Affies were leading 15-10. De Klerk said: “23-18 win against Garsfontein was not enough. I do not think we have played like we could have played. These players know what to do when we want to win but a win is a win. I wanted more goals.”

Coach De Klerk added that apart from Affies vs Garsfontein game, she has no reason to be fuming as her team has been making sure that she is happy. “This club makes me happy we have never lost a game in two years that is very important. They all listen when I talk to them. We have good Captain. Our defense is very strong. Goal defender and goalkeeper are very good. We have good goal shooters. I have no complaints about the team, they are doing well,” she said.

Captain Roelien Pienaar agreed with her coach: “Winning matches mean a lot me as captain. It means we are listening to the coach. We have passion, commitment and dedication to what we do in order to win matches. We are toppers in the log. Everything is pushed by passion we have for Netball,” she said

As Affies celebrated their unstoppable win run, Garsfontein coach Carin Strauss said she is proud of her team despite the loss, because Affies are a tough team. “This team is difficult to play against and we did not have a good start in our first quarter of the game. The rest of the game was 50-50. We managed to score at least 18 goals,” she said.

Garsfontein’s captain, Esther Van Nieuwkoop did not complain about the game but stressed the need to up their game, she said that first quarter was bit difficult for her team. “We played well only that our start was not on point."