When the Jaguars take to the court on Friday in the University of Pretoria's Rembrandt Hall to play the Crinums in the semi-final of the Telkom Netball League, they will certainly not lack in motivation.
Over the last five years, the Jaguars, who are basically an all Tuks team, has contested each final being victorious in the previous two. To say that the team dominated since 2017 is no exaggeration. Of the 26 games played the Jaguars have won 25. The Stings is the only team who has managed to beat them in the last three years. They did so at the start of this tournament.
There is still one local statistic that the Jaguars want to lay claim to and that is to become only the second team to win the national netball league three times consecutively. Currently, the Crinums are the only team to have done so,
The results certainly favour the Jaguars to be on course to achieve their goal as they have beaten the Crinums in both pool games. Jenny van Dyk (Jaguars head coach) however will never allow any player to rest on their laurels.
"I keep emphasising to the players that it can never only be about winning local tournaments. For them, it must always be about the bigger goal. No player should be satisfied with merely being the best locally. At Tuks, our training is aimed at getting players to perform to the best of their abilities at a world stage.
"South Africa is hosting the Netball World Cup Tournament in four years from now. I want my players to already now think about what their shortcomings are and how they are going to go about it to improve on it so they could be in contention to represent the Proteas.
"What distinguishes the current Protea players from every other South African player is that they proved they can play at their best even when under pressure. That is what I want the players I coach to strive towards. Their aim should always be to make the most of every opportunity. The same goes for me as a coach.
Van Dyk ascribed the Jaguars dominance in the national netball league to the fact that they are the one team everyone wants to beat.
"That is definitely to our advantage as we never get to play an easy game. The players are always under pressure and got to work for each victory; that leads to them starting to think about the game.
"I expect them to do their own video analyses on their opponents and have at least three strategies planned as to how they are going to counter before every game. One of the biggest mistakes any coach can make is to over coach players in other 'spoonfeed' them."
When listening to how Van Dyk passionately explains that whatever happens today will never be good enough tomorrow, it becomes clear why six of the current Protea Team's players are former Tuks players.
They are Lenize Potgieter, Ine-Marie Venter, Renske Stoltz, Erin Burger, Izette Griesel and Shadine van der Merwe.
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