More sponsorship needed to improve netball in Namibia

WINDHOEK, 16 JUN – More sponsors are needed if netball is to grow in Namibia, Netball Namibia (NN) vice-president Rebecca Goagoses has said.
Goagoses, who is also responsible for marketing, sponsorship, public relations and competition at NN, in an interview with Nampa on Wednesday said other companies should follow the example of Debmarine Namibia and start investing in the development of the game.
Debmarine sponsored the Pent Series which ended here on Wednesday. Namibia won the second edition of the netball tournament, which saw two Namibian teams, as well as Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe compete to improve their rankings.
“At the moment, we have national team players representing their country purely out of passion. These girls do not get paid a single cent for representing their country,” Goagoses said.
She added that if Netball Namibia had enough money, players and officials would be compensated for donning national colours.
“But where will we get that money from if we only have Debmarine Namibia sponsoring this competition and paying for all the logistics of the championship? I therefore call on the corporate world to start putting more funds in sports which in turn will help the same communities that support their businesses,” said Goagoses.
She also stated that the senior national netball team plans to start preparing for the 2018 African Women Netball Championships qualifiers’ tournament, which is also the World Cup qualifier, and the team will need support to prepare well.
“We are going to Zambia in August for the World Cup qualifiers and it is important that the corporate world comes on board to help the team in preparing well for the competition that will see all the best nations in Africa competing,” she said.
The Netball Association of Zambia will host this year’s African Women Netball Championships from 14 to 19 August.

NAMPA