Page 24 - QARANC Vol 18 No 1 2020

22 The Gazette QARANC Association
Exercise MEDIC NETRUS 19
Army Medical Services Netball Overseas Tour, South Africa, September 2019
Ever since the Army Medical Services made history by winning the Army Netball Inter-Corps Championships in 2016, interest and participation in the sport has grown at an exponential rate. A squad of 16 players were selected from the wider AMS squad to take part in the 2019 AMS Netball Tour, traditionally used to train and prepare for the Inter-Corps Championships held in October as well as develop new players. This year’s destination was South Africa, a country with a rich history of netball and an international team competing for the top spot.
The squad of old and new players, from beginner to Army level, arrived in Cape Town, nestled right in the heart of the city. Surrounded by beautiful sandy beaches and a stunning coastline on the doorstep of our accommodation, we had a feeling it was going to be a good week. After a long journey we were given some down time and a chance to explore our home for the next 10 days.
It was soon back to business and the following morning we commenced our first training session at Camps Bay High School. The sessions were intense
The team sporting QA scarlet!
and made much more of a challenge by the sweltering heat of the South African sun. Our first match that evening was against Durbanville Netball Club. Unfortunately victory wasn’t ours, but we got the opportunity to put into practice the skills and drills from our training session that morning. The pain of defeat was eased when the opposing team hosted us to celebrate their national Heritage Day with a barbeque, or ‘braai’. They taught us some Afrikaans – apparently the food was ‘lekker’! On and off the court, it was a great reminder of what true sportsmanship is.
The following day we were back to our training, reflecting on the previous
The team at the training venue
evening’s match to focus on areas for improvement. We dined out as a team for our evening meal at a traditional restaurant where we were treated to 13 courses of South African cuisine, live drumming, Mali puppetry, and dancing to the rhythms of the marimba percussion and djembe drums as our entertainment.
We resumed our training, developing further as a team who had not played
A view of the magnificent Table Mountain