The recently concluded MTC Netball Namibia Premier League Power Week has provided teams and officials with an opportunity to assess performances, identify areas for improvement, and prepare for the second round of the competition.

Netball Namibia said the week-long event exceeded expectations and laid a foundation for the continued development of the sport in the country.

The first MTC Netball Namibia Premier League Power Week concluded in Swakopmund, with administrators and coaches praising the initiative for identifying areas that require improvement ahead of the second round of the season.

Netball Namibia President Juanitha Witbeen said the event was a successful test and commended league coordinators, teams, and coaches for their commitment throughout the week.

With that being said, collaboration between national and regional structures is crucial to ensuring development that benefits players across the country.

"This was a test run of the Power Week. This will be the only one for the year. But going forward, that means we have done a great job, and we need to applaud our league coordinator, the teams, and the coaches for staying committed throughout this week. It is a beautiful test, and it worked perfectly. We still have a second leg that needs to be played off, which will start as soon as we're done here. I think next week we are already going into the derbies for the regions. After that, the league continues. Plans are to have our national teams call up the names that were selected and get into training setups. Coaches need to be developed; we continuously do that. Umpires are also one of the pathways that we continue to develop. Inclusivity is important in all the ways that we can, and for my coaches and teams, let us work together because that is the only way we can put through the message from Netball Namibia to the regions."

For coaches, the tournament provided an opportunity to evaluate team performances under demanding conditions.

Mighty Gunners assistant coach Diana Mungunda said that while her team recorded six wins and two losses, the competition highlighted several areas that require attention.

“Yeah, during this Power Week, my team performed very nicely. We won six games. We lost two. It was very nice. During the competition, what we picked up, or what we have to go and work on, is our defence and our mid-court play, specifically how to give the ball to the shooters and how to play the channels from channel one to channel two. Now we need to focus on our defence because, really, the defenders are a bit slow, and they don't know how to pick up their opponents. Normally, if we lose the ball, we don't defend in the middle, so we need to do more on that.”

Namibian Correctional Service head coach Teri Tuaire echoed similar sentiments, saying the tournament exposed both strengths and shortcomings within his squad.

“Let's start by thanking MTC Netball Namibia for organizing the Power Week. I think it's a very great initiative. It exposes your weaknesses and your strengths and shows you what to work on. Very positive attributes that we took away from here are that we had endurance. We had endurance. So that says our sports conditioning was on point. It was not bad. I think we outlasted most of the teams, not to take away anything from the other teams, but I think that was a very good attribute. Going forward, it exposed a lot of small technical hiccups that we need to work on and fine-tune to better ourselves in the second round. Key attributes that we need to work on, I think, are our system work."

According to officials, the lessons learned during the competition will help strengthen performances and contribute to the long-term development of netball in Namibia.

With the Power Week now concluded, teams will return to their respective regions to prepare for upcoming derby fixtures before the league resumes.