Bringing order to the court

Amber Petoors has cracked the nod for the SA under-17 schools squad of 35 players and will be representing her school at the SA Top Schools championships, in August

She may be small but when De Kuilen High School’s Amber Petoors, 16, takes to the court, she lets the ball do the talking.

Amber was part of the Western Cape under-17 school’s side that came third at the South African netball championships, held at De Kuilen High School, last week.

Amber has been a regular in the Western Cape schools netball set up since she played under-12.

She is now one of the 35 under-17 players who were selected for the national squad following last week’s competition.

Amber said making the SA under-17 squad is a dream come true. This, she said, was because the reason she started playing netball in the first place was to one day play for the national team.

“It still feels unreal to be a part of the SA squad. I played well and enjoyed the tournament but I believe there is always room for improvement.

“My performance in this competition was better than previous years because I put in more work in preparation,” she said.

Amber made her debut in her school’s first team side earlier this year.

She and her De Kuilen teammates made a big impression beating rivals Stellenberg High School 21-19 at the WP netball Top School merit competition, hosted by De Kuilen, in May.

They went on to beat Brackenfell and Tygerberg 24-14 and 34-13, which saw them qualify for WC Top School.

Their match against Stellenberg was billed as one of the biggest netball matches of the season because it was the top two schools in Cape Town facing off for ultimate bragging rights. Amber said it felt great to get one over Stellenberg.

“We knew we wanted to win that match and everyone in our team did their part to make us accomplish our goal. Knowing that we worked together to reach that goal, felt so good,” she said.

De Kuilen has qualified for the SA Top Schools championships, next month, in Boksburg, in Gauteng. Amber hopes her side will do well at the national competition.

“We are not there to make up the numbers but to win it. It won’t be easy but I believe anything is possible,” she said.

Amber is following in the footsteps of her mother, Marico Robertson-Petoors and grandmother Kerlien Robertson, as both of them played netball.

“I have been playing netball since Grade 3 at De Kuilen Primary and since then I have learnt to love the sport. From Grade 6 until now I have made the WP and WC teams for netball.

Her former coach Ashraf Majiet said Amber is a wild card player which, he said, was someone who reads and controls the game well.

“She is a down to earth person and always strives to give more that what is expected, on and off the court. She has strong leadership characteristics and her positivity rubs off on other players. She is not one of the tallest players but that does not put her off when facing taller opposition,” he said.