01 Oct 2026

The youthful national netball team has proved that they have the resilience to battle Africa’s elite on the court, but closing the gap for future World Cup bids will require a major investment in home turf.

Despite finishing in eighth position at the recently concluded Netball World Cup Africa Regional Qualifiers in Kenya, the team’s head coach, Martha Mosoahle-Samm, remains optimistic about the squad’s path. 

In an interview, Mosohloane-Samm described the competition as intensely challenging yet necessary for the team’s development.

“Kenya was brutal. Kenya was real, the African teams have become very good and I think it was an eyeopener for us as Team Botswana, the big lessons learned and the future of netball in Botswana is bright,” she said.

The 12-player roster was selected on merit rather than age, resulting in a youthful line-up designed to anchor the long-term national programme.

“Considering that this is a young team, we had to start from somewhere, at one stage, you have let go of the old players because you cannot hold on to history,” she explained.

While candid about her disappointment with the final eighth-place ranking, the coach praised the squad’s resilience under pressure and their ability to absorb high-level competition. 

She noted that the players were successfully embracing the technical staff’s philosophy and shifting team dynamics.

“The culture has changed, which for me is the most important thing and therefore it will be much easier to move forward with the material we have, understanding of the girls and their growing self-awareness and accountability,” Mosoahle-Samm said. 

However, she cautioned that physical talent alone could not bridge the gap with Africa’s elite teams, adding that there was need for financial backing to support athlete wellness and conditioning.

“A lot of things need to be done, some financial injections are needed for the girls to get their own high-performance centre in Gaborone,” she said.

Mosoahle-Samm noted that dedicated training facilities were essential for the squad to become highly conditioned and to access proper nutritional benefits, saying modern netball development was a holistic process. 

With the tournament cycle accelerating, she emphasised that preparations for the next qualifiers must begin immediately.

“World Cup is now happening every second year, so there is no need for us to wait anymore and there is going to be another qualifier soon and therefore we need to start preparing for it now,” she said. ENDS