#TuksNetball: Louw’s accuracy is key to the Jaguars being unbeaten in the Brutal Fruit Series

Posted on June 07, 2018

The Gauteng Jaguars is not only unbeaten so far in the Brutal Fruit Netball Series they are also the first team to go past the 400 goal marker.

Not that she will but the Tuks goal shooter, Chanté Louw, can claim to have played a significant role in the Jaguars success so far. She has established herself as “Ms Consistency” netting goal after goal during games during the series.

When seeing her play it is hard to think of Louw still being a rookie in the Brutal Fruit Series. Last year she only got to play two quarters for the Jaguars. Her first full game for the Jaguars was when the team played in New Zealand. It was not as goal shooter. She played goal defence.

There is no secret to Louw’s rise as a shooter. She is driven by hunger to be the best. At the moment playing for Tuks and the Jaguars means there is never any guarantee that she will get to take to the court as she is not the number one shooter. 

Ine-Mari Venter who played for the Proteas during the Commonwealth Games is her senior which means Louw usually gets game time when Venter can’t play.

An ankle injury kept Venter of court up to now in the Brutal Fruit Series, but she might be ready to play the semi-final and final. Louw accepts that she could be benched if Venter is fit to play however she makes no secret of the fact that she wants to establish herself as one of South Africa’s top goal shooters. That is why she is often seen doing extra training working on honing her skills to near perfection.

According to Louw to be successful as a shooter means that one can never rest on one’s laurels.

“Goal shooting is all about confidence. It is easy when you keep on putting the ball away during a game to get into a comfort zone. The challenge I set myself is to remain focused at all times. When you score, you got to forget about it and refocus on your next attempt immediately. The same goes for when off to a bad start during a game. You cannot afford to let yourself get worked up about your failures because then you will let the team down.

“As goal shooter, you also got to be able to adapt your game in the circle depending on who is playing goal attack as each player has got its unique style of playing.”

Sport can be cruel at times. There are countless stories to be told about teams dominating in a competition only to get unstuck in the final. It is sort of like a sports version of Newton’s law; what comes up must come down.

Louw said she and her teammates are wary about getting overconfident especially since they had not yet lost.

“We are constantly reminding ourselves that any team is only as good as the last game they played. At the moment we are not even thinking about the final. We still got the play the KwaZulu Natal Stars, and then there is the semi-final."

- Author Wilhelm de Swardt

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