Banyana Banyana captain and central defender, Janine van Wyk is excited about the new changes and challenges when the team regroups for a selection and training camp on Wednesday (19 March) at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre.
Banyana Banyana captain and central defender, Janine van Wyk is excited about the new changes and challenges when the team regroups for a selection and training camp on Wednesday (19 March) at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre.
The Sasol-sponsored Senior Women’s National team will go through high intensity training at the High Performance Centre until Sunday (23 March) under the guidance of coach, Vera Pauw.
The new coach will look to form a formidable squad that will compete at the 2014 edition of the CAF African Women’s Championship set for Windhoek, Namibia later this year.
“I’m excited to be reporting for camp and looking forward to the next five days with a new coach and some new faces in the squad. We’ve been given a new coach who is highly experienced. We obviously expect new changes, a new style of play and this is a challenge we should look forward to as a team.
“Our goal is to work hard towards impressing her as she looks to finalise the squad for the qualifiers and eventually the AWC tournament. I know she’s seen me play in the past but I can’t rely on my past experience as we know no place is guaranteed in the national team. We all need to work hard for a spot in the team,” said the Banyana Banyana captain.
Banyana Banyana have set their focus on qualifying and claiming title glory at this year’s edition of the CAF African Women’s Championship. This will be a natural progression as they claimed a Silver medal at the previous edition of the continental competition held in Equatorial Guinea and coming out Bronze medallists in the 2010 edition held on home soil.
The South Africans will meet Comoros in the final round of the qualifiers scheduled for the end of May to determine which of the two will join other teams in Namibia.
“It’s an important year for Banyana Banyana so we want to work towards a common goal. That goal being qualifying for AWC and working towards qualifying for the FIFA Women’s World Cup at the same tournament,” said van Wyk.