{"id":87396,"date":"2025-05-13T05:49:36","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T05:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court"},"modified":"2025-05-13T06:32:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T06:32:44","slug":"namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court","title":{"rendered":"Namibia\u2019s netball levelling up on and off the court"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. <\/strong><\/span><b>The MTC Namibia Netball Premier League is embracing the challenge to transition to a professional establishment.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Starting next season, players are guaranteed paycheques for their craft while all league matches will be streamed live.<\/p>\n<p>These are steps in the right direction, the organisers said during Friday\u2019s launch. Exposure and incentives will encourage competition, which in turn improves the product and grows the country\u2019s netball brand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is exactly what we had in mind, exactly what we envisioned when we birthed the MTC Netball Premier League, which was to make sure, number one, that we have a strong competitive league and a strong national team that will go on and conquer the world,\u201d said Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) spokesperson Tim Ekandjo who announced a N$2.9-million sponsorship for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are pleased that we are well on our way to achieving these objectives and all thanks to Netball Namibia and its leadership and, of course, the government\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou will recall that when we started this Premier League, we made a commitment that we want this to become the very first fully professional league in Namibia. We have demonstrated this by our investment over the last five years,\u201d Ekandjo continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMTC and Netball Namibia will work towards a three-year professionalisation plan, which must be implemented immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is our intention, and I underscore the word intention, madam president, to implement a minimum wage across the board, which will serve as a basic allowance or salary for every participating netball player starting next year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Acting Africa Netball president Rebekka Goagoses, who was Netball Namibia president when MTC came on board five seasons ago, says the sport has made significant strides in realising its ambitions and potential.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe impact of this sponsorship has been nothing short of transformative. We have witnessed a tangible surge in the competitiveness of our league,\u201d Goagoses said of how far the sport code has come.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTeams are better equipped, players are motivated and every match is a thrilling spectacle of skills and determination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis heightened competition is a battle upon which national success is built. And indeed, look at how our national team is flourishing,\u201d Goagoses noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe consistent exposure to high level competition week after week has honed their skills, sharpened their strategic thinking and instilled a winning mentality. We are no longer just participants on the international stage, we are now contenders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is further evidenced by the ever-expanding pool of talent we now have to draw for our national teams.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The league will use its position to champion \u2018Combating Against Gender-Based Violence\u2019 when it gets underway at the end of May, says interim Netball Namibia president Juanitha Witbeen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe send a clear, unmistakable message using the powerful symbol of sport, specifically the graphic designs on our kits,\u201d Witbeen says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis season, we wear purple ribbons, as a symbol of peace, courage, survival and honour. The colour purple represents the commitment to ending violence, and every time our athletes step onto the court, that ribbon will serve as a constant reminder of our collective dedication to creating a society where violence has no place,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we embark on this season, let us not only cheer for victories in the game, but also for the victory we will achieve as a nation, victory over violence, victory for peace, and victory for every woman and girl in Namibia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is more than a game, we are united on and off the court to stand against gender-based violence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Namibia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. The MTC Namibia Netball Premier League is embracing the challenge to transition to a professional establishment. Starting next season, players are guaranteed paycheques for their craft while all league matches will be streamed live. These are steps in the right direction, the organisers said during Friday\u2019s launch. Exposure and incentives will encourage [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":87395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-87396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Namibia\u2019s netball levelling up on and off the court - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The MTC Namibia Netball Premier League is embracing the challenge to transition to a professional establishment. ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Namibia\u2019s netball levelling up on and off the court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The MTC Namibia Netball Premier League is embracing the challenge to transition to a professional establishment. ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-13T05:49:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-13T06:32:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2025\/05\/sm_1747105283.462945.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Namibia\u2019s netball levelling up on and off the court\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-13T05:49:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-13T06:32:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court\"},\"wordCount\":608,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2025\/05\/sm_1747105283.462945.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/namibias-netball-levelling-up-on-and-off-the-court\",\"name\":\"Namibia\u2019s netball levelling up on and off the court - 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