NETBALL: She Cranes urged to mentor youngsters
Aug 05, 2016
Thandi was assisted by her deputy Julie Smith and eight other volunteers from England
Monica Thandi, Netball Development Trust (NDT) founder, has appealed to She Cranes players to use their fame to grow the sport in the country.
Netball Development Trust founder Monica Thandi talks to youngsters during the clinic. Photo by David Namunyala
The former netball player who was inspired to start a sport related NGO after being denied the opportunity to play on the Australian national team due to her height, added that Uganda had talent that needs to be tapped.
"In countries like Australia, national team players are used regularly to inspire the young ones and that is what is still lacking here," Thandi said at the closure of the one month netball tour in Budondo, Jinja last week.
"Many of these young girls and boys would just want to physically see or spend a day with a star and you don't know what that would mean to them and the sport," she added.
She later applauded She Cranes defender Florence Nanyonga for sharing a moment with over 100 primary five pupils who turned up for the grassroots clinic.
Thandi, her deputy Julie Smith and eight other volunteers from England later donated balls, jerseys, bibs and other scholastic materials to all the 10 schools that participated at the clinic.
NDT's local coordinator Dennis Mpoza added that the five year old project has helped grow the game among the youngsters and that they also have an arrangement to start tracking down the players' progressive report.