Toti teachers chosen for SA ringball squad
Leatitia will join the squad for training and a fitness test in Benoni from 20 July.
Two Amanzimtoti High School teachers were selected for the SA seniors ringball squad. Netball coaches, Alischia Lund, 27, and Leatitia Spiers, 29, are registered with Toti, as well as the Richards Bay club, to be eligible for selection. Both were selected after sterling performances at an inter-provincial tournament played in Pretoria from 23 to 29 June. Alischia is pregnant and unfortunately had to pull out of the squad.
“I’ve been playing since I was 14, but sat out for four years after I had my two daughters,” said Leatitia, who plays wing and is an Afrikaans teacher. “I started playing at the Secunda club when I was 15-years-old. I have made the SA squad nine times since U16.”
Alischia is a defender who started playing eight years ago in Durban. She teaches technical and EMS (economics). “I’ve been selected for the SA squad four times since U19. Not many countries play ringball and those that do, play a different style to what we play in South Africa. It is starting to spread though.”
Ringball is a century old sport that was introduced at the South African teachers’ colleges as a sport for women to play. Over the years the rules were adapted to be more suitable for women to compete and a new game was born called korfball, which men also started to play.
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In 2007, the name was officially changed from korfball to ringball and in South Africa there are about 2 000 senior players and 900 junior players playing the sport.
The SA squad is made up of nine players, with three reserves. Four SA teams are selected, per age group. Leatitia will join the squad for training and a fitness test in Benoni from 20 July. As there is no immediate country to compete against, the various SA squads compete against each other at a tournament taking place at Hoy Park in Durban on 9 and 10 August.
Alischia Lund (in white) in action for the KZN ringball squad.
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