[PICS] Street ballin’: Kaap meisies get a kans to show off their netball skills

With less than 100 days to go until the Netball World Cup in Cape Town, a street netball initiative now gives young girls a kans to show off their skills.

The regional Street Netball program, created by Sporting Chance, is part of the City of Cape Town’s countdown to the World Cup and saw more than 700 girls under the age of 13 take to the streets on Friday.

Street Netball’s launch took place simultaneously in the communities of Grassy Park, Elsies River, Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Langa, Mfuleni, Ocean View and Nomzamo.

Sixteen teams of six participated in an adjusted five-a-side variant of the game.

Lisolethu Qwesha, from Seven Strikers in Khayelitsha, says this is an excellent opportunity for young girls to take their sport to the next level.

“This means the world to me, me and my team are going to new levels. My team and I are just going to show up and tell those people that we can also do it. We are going to get there where SA player Phumza Maweni is,” she adds.

Brad Bing, managing director of Sporting Chance, says that they have been advocating for years to get children back out onto the streets and playing sports.

“We have also been pushing for increased health education around the importance of playing sports and being active. We want the children to get out there and reclaim the streets to lead a healthy and active lifestyle,” Bing adds.

Shirley Qotisini from Khayelitsha says seeing kids playing in the streets, instead of doing crime, will be a major boost for the area.

“I get to see brilliant talent in young girls and the streets utilised for a good cause. I’m also looking forward to the Netball World Cup,” she says.

The events on Friday marked the beginning of an eight-week Street Netball series and weekly matches will be played in each community.

Round-robin matches will take place every Friday until the regional finals on June 16.

[email protected]