Mikia Kalati
THE Lesotho Netball Association (LNA) will next month hold a two-day workshop aimed improving the standards of netball in the country.
LNA public relations officer, Matšepo Mohau, said the workshop will be held in the south, north and central regions of the country as part of efforts to capacitate umpires and coaches.
“Over the past two years we put a lot of effort on grooming young talent and we felt that it is necessary for our umpires who work with the players to also receive training,” Mohau said.
“It has been a while since we trained the coaches and there was a need for them to go back to the classes.”
The training is being held against the background of the poor showing by the LNA under-20 team at two regional competitions that were held in Botswana and Angola recently.
“We felt that our players were not at the required level during the international competitions last year and this could be attributed to coaching at club level.
“So it was important that we brought the coaches together to address this through the workshop.”
She said teachers would also attend as they worked with learners in primary and high school which is where talented was spotted and nurtured, adding it was therefore important for them to possess the right skills to prepare the players from an early age.
She said their failures in Botswana and Angola had taught them the need for international exposure as well as adequate preparations.
“We did not have enough time to prepare as we experienced a lot of challenges and all those things worked against our team psychologically, but we have a chance to work and prepare for the future,” she said.
She also said the local netball league which was suspended last year will only get underway in April after the coaching clinic.
