Tapiwa Chirenda has promised to deliver for the Netball national team in the Africa Cup qualifiers scheduled for September 19-26 in Nairobi after taking up a coaching role in the team.
“The Kenyan team is good, and it has been coming up in rankings all through the years,” noted Chirenda.
Chirenda, who has previously worked with Zimbabwe’s women’s and men’s national teams has been working with the Kenyan side for the past two weeks and is hoping to use his experience from Zimbabwe and across Africa to help Kenya make a major impact in the championship.
The Zimbabwean has promised Kenyan fans an exciting brand of netball and believes Kenya is a sleeping giant in the discipline and can develop into one of Africa’s netball powers within the next two years if the current progress is sustained.
“The other coaches have done a good job prior to my coming here. I see Kenya going far in the next two years; it can become the powers of Africa,” he said.
Chirenda is contracted to remain with Team Kenya until the end of the championship, even though his native Zimbabwe will also participate in the competition. “Obviously, my loyalty will be with my new adopted country, Kenya,” he assured.
Kenya will compete against some of Africa’s leading netball nations in the qualifiers, with the top two teams earning places at the 2027 World Cup in Sydney, joining South Africa and Uganda, who have already qualified.
Chirenda believes his short spell with the team can make a difference. “To the Kenyan fans, what I can promise them is you'll see a different brand of netball,” he said.
Meanwhile, Africa Netball technical delegate Magriet Bester said nearly 200 officials took part in the technical course in Nairobi.
Bester, who is Head of Technical at Rector Ampas from Netball South Africa, explained that the training focused on scorekeeping, timekeeping and statistics.
She noted that officials from Uganda also attended the course, describing the turnout as encouraging.
Bester will return to Kenya a week before the September 19 start of the tournament for a refresher course to ensure that all technical preparations are in place.
The Africa Netball Cup qualifiers will involve Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda, South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia, Tanzania and Nigeria. Kenya has never been to the Netball World Cup, while Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, have been there.
