On Saturday, South Africa will face Uganda in the opening game of the Nations Cup, which will also feature the hosts, England, and their bitter rivals, Malawi.

The Proteas flew straight from the Caribbean to Nottingham following their 3-0 Test defeat against Jamaica in Kingston. While it’s never pleasant to suffer a series whitewash, the Sunshine Girls are currently the world’s third-ranked team, and playing in Kingston is a daunting task due to the quality of the hosts and their fanatical support.

Since Jenny van Dyk took over as coach and Free State stalwart Khanyisa Chawane was appointed captain, the Proteas have spoken the language of a team that wants to improve and become world beaters.

While netball is a major sport in South Africa, the team has hovered around the fifth-ranked position in the world for quite some time. Many may view the series defeat to Jamaica as a step backward, but the Proteas prefer to see it as a valuable learning curve, remaining confident that they are moving in the right direction.

Chawane told OFM Sport that having the right mindset will take them far and that it’s important never to view a defeat as a roadblock. 

“We’re so surrounded by coaches and people that really have so much knowledge, and they just keep us on track in terms of always reminding us of how much this is a process,” said Chawane. “It’s something that we need to trust – it’s something that we need to buy into. Coaches will always tell you that as much as winning is a habit, so is losing.

Khanyisa Chawane. Photo: Netball SA

“Your mindset plays a big role in that: how you take your losses and how you look at the wins that come. As much as we were on a winning streak and our minds were positive, the losses we got from Jamaica did not derail us from what we wanted to achieve, nor did they make us deviate from the process we had.

“Those losses are much more of a lesson for us because we want to go into every competition aiming for the win. So that mindset cannot change, as it influences how we approach everything. At the moment, we’re approaching this series, for example, with the intent to win because that’s the mindset we have. We want to be in a position where we want to win everything.”

South Africa will open their campaign in Nottingham on Saturday when they face the She-Cranes of Uganda, with the Test set to get underway at 17:00.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek mvh