ALS Puk Tawana coach, Belinda Nkosi, believes they have a better chance this year at the seventh Sasol League National Championships taking place at the Harry Gwala Multipurpose Centre in Sasolburg from 7-13 December.
Nine provincial teams will be competing for the R50 000 first prize, with the runners-up taking home R30 000 and the third-placed team walking away with R25 000. The final will be held at DP de Villiers Stadium.
As an incentive this year, players will get R1 000 in prize money when they are crowned Diski Queen of the Match, while all individual award-winners at the tournament will receive R5 000 each.
North West side Tawana are in Group A with 2013 winners Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies and one of two Northern Cape sides – either RC Mills or Galeshewe Ladies.
Galeshewe Ladies and RC Mills will compete for the spot today.
Group B features defending champions Cape Town Roses, Red Roses and Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies.
Kanatla Ladies, last year’s third place winners Coal City Wizards, and Durban Ladies are in Group C.
Tawana will face Sundowns in their opening match and Nkosi said they knew what to expect from the former champions.
She explained that they had played against the Chloorkop side at the Mafikeng Mayoral Cup last month and that they have had some time to work on their faults ahead of the Championships next week.
Nkosi added that they aimed to make it into the final this year.
“We are a better side now than we were in 2013,” the coach said.
“The experience we gained from the play-offs will come in handy, as we learned so much from that. We will give it our all.
“Sundowns only beat us 2-0 in the Mayoral tournament. That match helped us gauge where we were as a team and what we needed to work on to be successful at this year’s Championships.”
Nkosi believes there should be more women coaches for women’s teams.
She believes men could take more influential roles as team managers.
“It would be nice to get more women coaches. Now that Banyana Banyana has a woman as coach, it will motivate other women to get their coaching licences,” she said.
