Maties Netball announces their new Head Coach Sasha-Lee Petersen starting from January 2025.
Petersen has been with Maties Sport as a student-athlete for more than a decade from 2014 to 2020 and has been coaching at Maties Netball since 2021. From playing Varsity Netball with the Maroon Machine to being assistant coach to the first team this year, Petersen has earned her ranks and graduated to Head Coach of Maties Netball, a life-long dream realised.
Petersen had this to say after being named Head Coach of the Maties Netball, “It’s obviously a huge honour for me, I love this club and I love this university and for me to be able to give back to a place that gave me so much and was a stepping stone to my career is amazing. It’s crazy to think that now the circle is full, but I just think it hasn’t settled in yet, I’m very excited and my plans are already in action.”
Petersen was privileged to have several coaching mentors which have helped her finetune her coaching philosophy. She has grasped different lessons from each of the coaches she’s played under at different levels and mixed these lessons with her own style of play, she believes in collaborating with different people in the sport industry and various codes to tap into a holistic approach and she expressed her thankfulness for all the help given to her on her coaching journey to date.
Her philosophy and approach to her coaching includes:
- Excellence
- Pride
- Holistic athlete
She expresses her vision and hopes for her team in the coming year ahead, “As a coach you plan and you have different student-athletes who come to you in a season, my plan is obviously developing and recruiting well. Most importantly building a Maties style and way of playing that we can build on every single year and perfect as well as cement so that Maties netball players in the future can benefit from. My main goal is to win and to get better and better each year, get podiums and medals. The hard work starts but it is also about preparation, it is not going to fall into your lap – you must work hard.”
Petersen is privileged to have played netball for many years which has helped her transition into coaching and some of her playing career highlights are inclusive of: Nationally – U21 Baby Protea, U23 SA Invitational and Proteas squad. Provincially – Western Cape Southern Stings / Tornadoes. Petersen is no stranger to balancing academics and sport, she holds the following degrees from Stellenbosch University, BA Sport Science, PGCE and BEd Honours and is currently in process of finalising and submitting her Master’s research in Sport Science.
Her coaching career started in 2016 at primary school level and in 2019 Petersen realised her passion for coaching, she has coached for six years at Bloemhof High School (first team for four years). Her career progression at Maties has propelled her into the Head Coach position, as seen here 2021 – Juniors Head Coach, 2022 – Maties 2 Head Coach and 2023 / 2024 – Assistant Coach Maties 1.
The newly appointed Head Coach will be supported by a management team that includes:
- Jo Prins (Assistant Coach/Maties 2 Coach)
- Charmaine Baard (Maties Junior Coach)
- Jared McArthur (Maties Men’s Coach)
- Llewellyn Morkel (S&C Coach)
- Neda Isaacs (Physio)
Sport Manager for Netball, Charle Swart said: “When I started with the club here in 2014, Sasha, Jo and Charmaine were newly recruited South African u21 players. Seeing them all next year coaching at the club makes me a proud manager and showcases Maties Netball investment in growing student-athletes and creating an environment where they want to give back to the club. I am very excited to welcome Sasha on board in the position as Head Coach and look forward to her bringing back the winning culture to the club.”
Senior Manager of High Performance, Keagan van Aarde: “I’m excited to see what Sasha can contribute towards the development of our student-athletes on and off the court as she has a good understanding of what our vision and mission is at Maties Sport being a student-athlete herself in Maroon. It is also very special to see that we have a full circle moment at Maties Netball and hope that she will use this experience to continue driving the vehicle of what sport can do for the next group of student-athletes,” he said.
Maties Sport wishes Sasha all the best in her new position and can’t wait to see what the future holds for Maties Netball.
By Kimara Singh