The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is pleased to announce the appointment of international netball player and captain, Bongiwe Msomi, as its head coach of the University’s netball club.
With a track record of more than 100 appearances for the senior netball team and having represented South Africa at the highest level, Msomi brings a wealth of experience to guide UJ’s fortunes in this sporting code. She has been capped 104 times for the senior national team, and plied her trade in three league seasons in England and one in Australia.
Born and raised in the township of Hammarsdale near Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, Msomi was also the Spar Proteas’ Netball Team Captain. She completed her matric at Luthayi High School in 2005. She played for Wasps Netball in the Vitality Netball Super League in Australia in 2019, finishing second. She was part of the Spar Proteas team that finished in the fourth position in the World Netball Cup 2019 in Liverpool.
She completed a national diploma in Sport Management in 2012 at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). Over the years, she worked as an ambassador for the Girls Only Project, an initiative that empowers women and girls through sport. She also founded the Bongi Msomi Netball Project (BMNetball).
Msomi made a transition from a player to coach effortlessly. “I have always been a netball player and a coach for as long as I can remember. I breathe and live sport; netball is a platform for me to exude my God-given talent. Now I have an awesome opportunity as a UJ Netball Coach to showcase what I can do for others through the sport. I am really excited for what lies ahead,” says Msomi.
Msomi believes that passion, leadership skills, valuable knowledge and experience, confidence, fairness, and time management make a good coach. She plans to use her experience as a netball player in the UJ Netball squad to improve its current performances.
“I have quite a fair experience that can help the UJ Netball team to do even better than it does currently. Being the Spar Proteas captain and having been coached by the likes of Norma Plummer – and with all the international experiences – I believe that I have a lot to offer and win trophies with the Orange Army. This will be an exciting step not only for me, but also for the ladies I will be working with and for the University of Johannesburg,” Msomi explains.
She has worked with the UJ team on a few training sessions and the girls show great potential to give a competitive edge against other universities. “The ladies are keen to learn, we already have two teams that take part in the USSA competitions; that for me is a great sign. Additionally, the internal residence league and other netball events can help us identify our strength and quality players. We have exciting plans in place to ensure competitiveness and an ongoing development for UJ netball.
“We will definitely not be a university netball team adding numbers to the various competitions; we are going to be a competitive university and a well-respected brand in the netball code. Our culture and how we do things have to ooze excellence. We, like all the other universities, are capable of being the best and we will be,” says Msomi.
Msomi’s achievements in Netball:
• Representing South Africa (104 Caps, as of July 2019)
- 2016/17/18/19 – Captain SPAR Protea’s Netball Team
- 2013/14/15 – Vice-Captain SPAR Protea’s Netball Team
- 2015/17/18 – KZN Sport women of the year
- 2011, 2012 – Selected to SPAR Protea’s Netball Team
- 2009 – Captain of U21 National Netball Team
• Suncorp Netball Super League 2018 – Adelaide Thunderbirds
• Vitality Netball Super League in England
- 2015 Champions – Surrey Storm
- 2017 Champions – Wasps Netball
- 2019 Runner up – wasps
- 2019 Netball world cup – Finished 4th
• Represented South Africa at the Netball World Cup in (2011 & 2015 & 2019)
• Represented South Africa in the Commonwealth Games (2014 & 2018)
