AFTER having taken a couple of days to acclimatise to the Jamaican conditions, South Africa’s netball team will have their first taste of action on local soil when they face the national Under-21 team in a warm-up game at the University of Technology (UTech) this evening starting at 6:30.

The world number five-ranked team spent Tuesday and yesterday in a number of training sessions preparing for tomorrow’s start of the Supreme Ventures Sunshine Series against the fourth-ranked Sunshine Girls at the National Indoor Sports Centre (NISC).

Team coach Elize Kotze shared tales of a visit to the Bob Marley Museum with the Jamaica Observer, while the girls also had a shopping excursion to the Sovereign Centre (mall) in Kingston as they get used to the heat and humidity as well as the seven-hour time difference following their long journey from South Africa on Monday afternoon.

“We have had a few tough training sessions, getting used to humidity and heat. (It was) a great experience for the players… keeping girls busy without exhausting them,” Kotze said.

The South Africans played Jamaica at the World Netball Championships (WNC) in Singapore last year and were beaten by all of 27 goals by the national team and also played them at the FastNet Series in the United Kingdom.

Kotze says they have a number of goals for this three-match series, not least of which is narrowing the margin of victory or defeat.

“Last year the Jamaicans beat us and I think the challenge will be to make less errors and really to be highly competitive for 60 minutes and also there were certain areas we had to go and work very hard on and we need to improve so we’re really coming out here to be good competitors but also reach upwards,” Kotze said.

“You cannot go into such an important series without confidence. The girls are confident. We respect their skills and their (Jamaica) world rankings, but we really are here to do well and be competitive,” she added.

Kotze stated that the match today will not only be a warm-up, but also one which will be used by all the players in the current squad to get their feet wet against a Jamaican team.

“For us it’s about settling our combinations. We want to see which combinations will suit our first test and to give every player the opportunity to take the court against a Jamaican side. So for us it’s all about tactical preparation.”

Meanwhile, Jamaican head coach Oberon Pitterson-Nattie told the Observer that despite the difference in world ranking, the Jamaicans are not underestimating their opponents.

“No. I don’t think they (Sunshine Girls) are complacent. They are nervous because it’s their first time out. Their first time playing in Jamaica. They are not taking them lightly. The players haven’t played South Africa that much except for FastNet, so it’s pretty much new to them,” she revealed.

The matches in the Sunshine Series will be played tomorrow, Sunday, and Tuesday at the NISC, starting at 7:00 pm on Friday and Tuesday and at 5:00 pm on Sunday.