The Eastern Cape Aloes will take the bull by the horns over the weekend as they look to redeem themselves after they hit a dry season in the Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League losing three matches in succession.
The fourth round of the league, to be played in Belville Velodrome in Cape Town, will witness the Aloes taking on the Jaguars of Gauteng tomorrow and the Diamonds of Northern Cape on Sunday.
The provincial team opened the league on a high note, winning their first three matches of the season, but have since lost their last three matches.
Aloes coach Desree Neville is hopeful the team will bounce back as she plans to make some changes in the team set to play over the weekend.
“To allow more players some game time a lot of changes can be expected in the team,” she said.
“We are looking forward to games ahead. We are still hopeful we can win. We have trained harder, especially after the most recent loss to the Crinums.”
“We did expect the game to be tough, especially with the return of their captain Maryka Holtzhausen,” she added.
The team held a training camp in Grahamstown earlier this week to prepare for the game ahead.
A quick recap on one of the Aloes’ games played last weekend:
The team first lost to the Southern Stings on Saturday by 66-30, a Western Cape team, and then went on to lose to Crinums of Free State 63-36.
The Crinums, who are also the defending champions of the league, only registered their first win of the season in their game against Aloes on Sunday afternoon.
The Crinums set the tone of the match scoringthe opening goal of the match.
As if this was not enough they fought to shoot almost all their centre passes, including some of the Aloes’ centre passes.
By halftime the Crinums were already almost half the total points ahead of the Aloes, with the match finally ending 32-18.
Netball enthusiast Nadia Foslara, who is also the public relations officer for Eastern Cape Netball, expressed her opinion and concern regarding the team, saying in as much as netball is a physical sport it is also a mental sport.
Foslara said the Aloes don’t know how to play a catch up game well, and whenever they start a game on a bad note they lose confidence in their game and start to panic.
“The Aloes started the season well. They were on form both mentally and physically, but in their game against the Crinums they seemed shaken,” said Foslara.
“The team seemed nervous. Yes, the game was expected to be tough for them because they were playing against the defending champs. However, the game could have ended differently.”
Another major issue for the Aloes is that they lost a few of their senior players.
“I think another thing that is counting against the Aloes is that most of their players are young,” added Foslara.
While everyone should be given a chance to play, the stronger combination should be the one to play the most challenging matches if the Aloes want to win, said Foslara.
A bit of mind games may just do trick for Aloes
The fourth round of the league, to be played in Belville Velodrome in Cape Town, will witness the Aloes taking on the Jaguars of Gauteng tomorrow and the Diamonds of Northern Cape on Sunday.
The provincial team opened the league on a high note, winning their first three matches of the season, but have since lost their last three matches.
Aloes coach Desree Neville is hopeful the team will bounce back as she plans to make some changes in the team set to play over the weekend.
“To allow more players some game time a lot of changes can be expected in the team,” she said.
“We are looking forward to games ahead. We are still hopeful we can win. We have trained harder, especially after the most recent loss to the Crinums.”
“We did expect the game to be tough, especially with the return of their captain Maryka Holtzhausen,” she added.
The team held a training camp in Grahamstown earlier this week to prepare for the game ahead.
A quick recap on one of the Aloes’ games played last weekend:
The team first lost to the Southern Stings on Saturday by 66-30, a Western Cape team, and then went on to lose to Crinums of Free State 63-36.
The Crinums, who are also the defending champions of the league, only registered their first win of the season in their game against Aloes on Sunday afternoon.
The Crinums set the tone of the match scoringthe opening goal of the match.
As if this was not enough they fought to shoot almost all their centre passes, including some of the Aloes’ centre passes.
By halftime the Crinums were already almost half the total points ahead of the Aloes, with the match finally ending 32-18.
Netball enthusiast Nadia Foslara, who is also the public relations officer for Eastern Cape Netball, expressed her opinion and concern regarding the team, saying in as much as netball is a physical sport it is also a mental sport.
Foslara said the Aloes don’t know how to play a catch up game well, and whenever they start a game on a bad note they lose confidence in their game and start to panic.
“The Aloes started the season well. They were on form both mentally and physically, but in their game against the Crinums they seemed shaken,” said Foslara.
“The team seemed nervous. Yes, the game was expected to be tough for them because they were playing against the defending champs. However, the game could have ended differently.”
Another major issue for the Aloes is that they lost a few of their senior players.
“I think another thing that is counting against the Aloes is that most of their players are young,” added Foslara.
While everyone should be given a chance to play, the stronger combination should be the one to play the most challenging matches if the Aloes want to win, said Foslara.
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