It is still early season, but the indications are that TuksNetball is going to be a force to be reckoned with in local tournaments.

Yesterday at an intervarsity tournament played at Tuks the home team outplayed the University of Johannesburg to win 46-25 they were equally impressive against Northwest Pukke winning 48-37.

Although satisfied with the results Jenny van Dyk (Tuks head coach) is quick to point out that it will be foolish to read too much into the results. 

“I think all the teams are still testing combinations. What was important to me is that the players who are going to play for the Jaguars in the Brutal Fruit-series get some game time. It is one thing to train and something different to play a match. I purposely rested most of the players who played for the Proteas during the Commonwealth Games.”

It was exciting to see Chantelle Swart back on the court. It was the first time she got to play three of the quarters during a game after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury last year. It happened a week before Swart was due to leave with the South African under-21 team to play the World Championships in Botswana. 

Swart who plays goal attack for Tuks admits that it was a difficult time for her. There were times when she wondered whether she will get to play again and when she plays whether she will still be good enough. 

“The one thing that kept me going was my passion for netball. I needed to be back on the court to get that adrenaline rush I get from playing netball.”

Swart has been selected to play for the Jaguars in the Brutal Fruit-series that starts which starts next week in Johannesburg. The Jaguars is the defending champions.