Surgery sacrifice worth it for the world stage - Maseko

Spar Proteas’ Kamogelo Maseko is ready to take on the global stage following her injury at the start of the year.

The vibrant goal attack suffered an elbow injury during the Vitality Netball Nations Cup at the beginning of the year. She missed the opening round of the Telkom Netball League after undergoing Ulnar nerve decompression surgery to fix her elbow.

Maseko will be key for South Africa in their tour down under. The Jenny van Dyk-led side will start with a three-test series in New Zealand before heading to Australia. The Taini Jamison Trophy series kicks off on 21 to 28 September.

The Proteas will take on the Origin Diamonds from 4 to 12 October.

Maseko made a decision to go under the knife with the hope of eliminating and improving the arm. She says carrying the injury was limiting, and she had to go on the mend.

“My injury was quite tough for me, especially after having a good tournament, but I played through the pain for so long that for me it felt like it was time for me to fix it. It felt so unpleasant and uncomfortable all the time. It would limit me from doing certain things. So when I made the call to do the surgery, it meant I would miss the first week of TNL, which was a big sacrifice. But it was worth it,” explains Maseko.

The Gauteng Jaguars star explains that although her physical recovery process didn’t take too much out of her, it was mentally daunting being back on court.

“Coming back was more of a psychological thing, physically I had already won the battle because I was really excited to come back. Before the surgery, I had a plan in place, my rehab, and when to play. It was all set and in place. All the things were done, coaches were honoured, and the medical staff was also honoured. Physically, I had won the battle when it came to my injury. But I think psychologically, I had to do the work. It took a toll on me.

It started taking a toll on me when I started playing because I couldn’t internalise and deal with the emotions that came with the injury. I was focused on coming back, but I felt the pressure of coming back after playing and being on court. It wasn’t about the physical aspect of it. I had already conquered that. It was more psychological, the noise and the expectations that people had,” she says.

Maseko says playing against the top teams in the world benefits the team. The last time the Proteas and the Silver Ferns went head-to-head was at the 2023 Netball World Cup

in Cape Town in a match that ended in a draw. Although South Africa are ranked lower than New Zealand, the goal attack says the Proteas still need to put in a great performance.

“There is a lot of pressure on us to perform. The goal is always to play the teams that are above us, it comes brings a lot of growth for the team. It also gives us a sense of where we are as a team and how much we need to work to get to where we ultimately want to be,” says Maseko.

Van Dyk named two uncapped players in her squad, Entle Futshane and Juanita van Tonder, who are likely to earn their first senior national caps. While veteran defender Shadine van der Merwe, who last donned the green and gold in Cape Town during the World Cup, has been named as the vice-captain in the absence of experienced Karla Pretorius.

The former Jaguars coach says the team needed an experienced leader in defence, and van der Merwe is the perfect choice.

“She is the second most capped player in our team. She brings such fantastic leadership, especially on the defensive side, where we kind of lack the experience of seasoned players. She has taken that mentorship role so well. She has really been an added bonus for us, and I think the team has been responding well to that,” says van Dyk.

The Australasian tour is the first opportunity for the coaching duo, van Dyk and Zanele Mdodana, to play the top two in the world after their appointment in 2024. However, they also got to face Jamaica and England, who make up the top four in the world at the start of this year. Van Dyk says that although it is challenging to travel to the other continents, the experiences help the team.

“It forces us to improve even quicker. It is such a demanding task to travel, the way we have to, for six different test matches, four different time zones, and they have home ground advantage. We are setting them up and putting them under all sorts of pressure by playing the top four in their own territories. Luckily, we have England coming over in January, and it will be the first time we host one of the top four countries in South Africa. We are looking forward to that,” she says.