NET GAINS

A group of Manenberg netball fanatics hosted their first netball tournament bringing together residents over the Easter weekend. 

Ward councillor Deidre de Vos says the event saw hundreds of mense gather to watch all-male netball teams put their best foot forward as they went head-to-head. 

The event also saw youngsters from Manenberg travel to compete against teams in Scottsdene. 

De Vos says: "The tournament is an initiative of Alderman Grant Twigg and for the first two days of the long weekend we saw the kiddies teams travel to Scottsdene to compete with teams there and they did very well.

"On Sunday and Monday we saw residents gathered to watch the all male teams of Manenberg compete against each other."

De Vos says as teams started preparing, they drew large crowds across various gang territories and then watched as the child gangs put their differences side for at least a day. 

She adds: "The men have their own existing teams and equipment and don’t wait on anyone.

"They raise funds and sort themselves out.

"The whole community gathered and there was nothing about who comes from what territory. We also saw that the klipgooiers arrived and instead of fighting they became spectators and sat lekker and cheered on the teams." 

The tournament was won by the Ola Pastrys netball team and De Vos explains they plan to host tournaments more often with the help of local non-profit organisations after last weekend's amazing success. 

De Vos adds: Right now we are looking at having the tournament every public holiday and reaching out to the NPOs to see if we can have it every two weeks.

"The hope is that the tournaments become a way of bringing the community together and get more kids involved in sports."