It is predicted that the TuksNetball Team will battle to defend the SA Universities title they held for the last three years because it is one of the youngest teams ever to represent the university.
Nearly half of the team’s players were still at school last year and they are captained by Juzelri Garbers who is at 19 considered to be one of the seasoned campaigners as she played for Tuks at last year’s national university tournament.
Taking this into account the Tuks players can be sort of satisfied with the results of the first day in Potchefstroom. In the first game which was quite a tightly contested affair Tuks lost to the University of Johannesburg (41-35). They then showed a lot of character in the second game beating Maties convincingly 59-48.
According to Garbers the South African Universities Tournament is really a tough challenge as they are playing eight games in five days and things never get any easier.
“The level of play is unbelievable. As a young team, we are in a sink or swim situation. Not that we are complaining the only way we can improve is to play against tough opposition.
“One of my goals for the tournament is to install the proud TuksNetball ethos to the younger players which is to respect the game and to never give up no matter how difficult things become. This time we might not win as often as we would like but I want our rivals to know that they are in for a tough game every time they step onto the court to play against us. If we can achieve this it will be mission accomplished.”
The real challenge for the Tuks Team is to try and qualify for the Varsity Tournament in August. In order to do so, they need to at least finish in the top six.
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