Shelly Guni, Sports Reporter
GLOW Petroleum Queens coach Pepertua Siyachitema is optimistic about her team’s prospects for the forthcoming season.
The team has however, set themselves a top three target.
The Kwekwe based-side finished a disappointing fifth last season and Siyachitema has hinted that she can improve the club’s fortunes this time around.
Last season Siyachitema, a former Gems captain, was mainly focusing on her national duty call, however this year she will be fully in charge of the team in what looks like a highly competitive season.
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The club has since regrouped ahead of the 2020 Rainbow Amateur Netball League season which starts this weekend and they will host ZRP PPU at Torwood tennis courts in Kwekwe.
“Expectations are high and we want the fans to be positive, but we’re not getting carried away because we knows it’s a long season. Setting targets builds things up so we’ve got to manage expectations,” she told H-Metro.
“But we are quietly confident that we’re building a squad that can compete very well. You need a little bit of luck with injuries because that was our major challenge last year. Of course we want the fans to be feeling good but it’s about results.
“I’m really looking forward to my first game of the season. Most teams have been active in the market street so we are not going to underrate any team in the league.”
The team retained a bulk of its players from last season and as it stands they look stronger on paper with the addition of four new players in the form of former Harare City trio Ursula Ndlovu, Cynthia Kasechu and Beverly Chipadza. They also signed former Ngezi player, Christine Kadandara.
“I have managed to beef up my team ahead of the new season. Last year we were affected mostly by injuries and we had to work with a limited number of players.”
Siyachitema was given a token of appreciation at the annual RANL awards that were held in December as the only female coach in the league. A move which is aimed at promoting more women leadership in RANL.
“This year I’m just going to show what ‘we’ women are capable of. I have been with Glow for a long time and we have managed to move higher in terms of rankings. It’s just unfortunate that last season I was mainly focusing on the World Cup call hence the fifth position finish.”
– HMETRO
