As the excitement builds for the PEP Mini Netball tournament set to take place at Colin Mann Primary in Germiston, Johannesburg, I had the opportunity to sit down with Dumisani Chauke, the tournament’s esteemed brand ambassador.
Chauke, a former SPAR Proteas Netball assistant coach, shared valuable insights about the upcoming event scheduled for Thursday, 6 June, from 13:00 to 17:00. She highlighted that the coaching sessions would cater to a wide range of school coaches focusing primarily on children from seven to ten years old. Our conversation began with Chauke outlining the primary objectives of the netball coaching sessions.
“The PEP mini netball coaching sessions are aimed at coaches that coach mini netball, basically coaches from different schools that have signed up through the South African Schools Netball. [These coaches] come together in one venue and get equipped both with mental, emotional skills, get motivated, inspired as well as get given and taught the necessary basic fundamental skills that they need to be teaching the young ones.”
“The age of the coaches there's no limit, but the pep mini netball age is from U-7 right up to U-10 and it's basically PEP deciding not only are they going to be giving sporting activities to young girls, making it fun and enjoyable, but that they are going to empower the coaches as well by having these coaching sessions. The coaching sessions unfortunately are not for parents, but it is only for the coaches whose schools have signed up with the South African Schools Netball Association to participate in the pep mini netball festivals. unfortunately it's only specifically for the schools that have signed up to participate in the festivals.”
Chauke passionately spoke about the broader impacts of netball and participating in sports on the children's lives. She mentioned how the benefits of participating in netball extend far beyond physical fitness and skill development. “Mini Netball is the perfect way to introduce kids to the sport of netball, it is quite fun and the players get to play every position on the court which then sort of like already opens their mind into learning the different positions on the netball court.”
“There aren't any specific skills that we teach the coaches during these sessions but we just open up their understanding or rather enhance their understanding of the basic fundamentals to teach the young girls at this age. I mean you could obviously look at skills like catching and passing, ball control and body control in terms of being able to land in a controlled manner, change of direction and deliver a pass successfully.”
When asked about the benefits for children who participate in netball, Chauke highlighted several key aspects. “In my opinion one of the biggest benefits for kids to participate in mini netball obviously is the fun element, that’s number one. Number two, they get to build friends in their own team as well as in other teams but then again it then contributes to their holistic motor development skills as well as cognitive skills at such a young age. Not only are we teaching them ball control, body control, which are all motor skills, [but] we are also teaching them anticipation as well as decision making skills, which then you know adds to their mental and emotional development.”
“We can sort of put it all together and say PEP Mini Netball is contributing to the holistic development of a young child who plays netball, there's a lot of social and developmental aspects that become some of the benefits of playing sports. We all know the physical benefits of playing sports which includes burning of calories, breaking out as sweet and also controlling the body system. You can also look at the emotional part and benefit of playing sports where you already learn how to deal with pressure and you learn how to deal with disappointments. Playing sports teaches you coping mechanisms, when you're constantly having expectations on you or playing under pressure and having to make decisions under pressure especially with a sport like netball where it is a three second sport and the decision making has to happen quite quickly."
As our interview concluded, it was clear that Chauke's vision for the PEP Mini Netball tournament is not just about the game itself, but about shaping a brighter future for the young participants and coaches. Chauke also emphasised the role of netball in social development; “We also teach them a bit of decision making as well as anticipation skills. You always see that when young kids are playing sport (whatever sport it is) they tend to bunch a lot. With netball we teach them in a fun way how to stick to their own channels, in terms of staying at home [they are] allowed to visit somebody else but you must always go back home. We try to teach them all these skills in a fun way and also teach the teachers how to teach the skills in a fun way that the kids can relate to.”
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