The story of Sasha-Lee Petersen is a lovely one to follow. She started playing netball from the age of six and she’s never looked back. Since then she earned her playing accolades while featuring for Maties Netball first team for seven seasons. It did not end there, a natural born leader, she swiftly wore the coaches’ whistle, coaching around her community and hosting coaching clinics.
Today Petersen is the assistant coach alongside former newly-appointed Maties Head Coach coach Adele Zeelie who has replaced Zanele Mdodana. Petersen is also a Maties 2 Coach.
On her route, Petersen coached Bloemhof Girls High School’s Netball team. She became a Maties Netball Junior Development Coach in her first year as a coach and she was responsible for the Maties U19 team.
“I would say that from when I started up until this point, obviously it hasn’t been an easy journey, but I’ve really grown a lot in heaps and bounds and learned a lot. I’ve absolutely loved it. It’s challenged me. It has just pushed me to be better. And I’m also very honoured and glad that I had a lot of mentors helping me.
Maties Netball Assistant Coach, Sasha-Lee Petersen
Coaching is an art that requires a natural leader who is able to influence and persuade their team to greatness. Patience, passion, tenacity, compassion are some of the required virtues. Of course, also including a poker face – A definite must need! At her young age and with so much coaching experience, Petersen has learnt valuable lessons.
“Definitely a lot of patience and adapting. When things change, you literally have to adapt as quick as possible as a coach. And you’ve also got to keep in mind that you do work with young girls and obviously everyone has different things happening. Everyone has something going on in their life and you kind of have to be aware of that and mindful of it.
“You also need to leave your personal things aside and you need to know that you’re there to coach, but also to help make the individual a better person. So yes, being a coach is a delicate position of leadership.”
On what makes a good coach, Petersen dives in: “A great coach is someone that is always open to learning and getting better and that accepts failure.”
“Failure also gives us an opportunity to get better. I think someone that also wants to help other coaches and other people get better. Someone that understands that at the end of the day, it’s sport and we love it. And we’re also there for the girls or for the athletes.”
Mdodana worked with Maties Sport for seven years from 2016 to 2023. Some of her achievements included a first Varsity Netball title triumphant in 2022 and back-to-back USSA titles in 2022 and 2023. She also produced two SPAR Protea netball players in Nicole Taljaard and Nicola Smith last year. They were both selected to participate in the Netball World Cup here in South Africa.
The now Proteas assistant coach to Jenny van Dyk, Mdodana left behind a side that aims for success at any given opportunity. The coach at the helm now, Adele Zeelie, has been with the Maroon Machine for years. She was part of the management team that achieved double gold at USSA and Varsity netball in 2022. Zeelie played netball professionally for the SPAR Proteas as well. Petersen describes her journey thus far under Zeelie.
“She’s very lovely, she was also my coach when I played for Maties and we’ve walked a long journey together. I always learn a lot from her and not only as a coach, but as an individual as well. She’s extremely strong and she’s gone through a lot of things in her life as well.
“She’s really a role model and a strength pillar and someone you can look up to because she just pushes you to want to be better. Her personality is that nothing is ever impossible or too big for you to tackle in the world.”
Top South African university netball teams are in Johannesburg with the single aim of lifting the 2024 University Sport South Africa (USSA) Championship trophy in netball. Maties have won the title 2022 and 2023, and are now gunning for a hat-trick of titles.
“I think going into this year it would be great if we could win it, but I think it’s important to know that there are processes that we need to follow, and you’re not just going to get to winning or the end goal without going through the process of this week.
“Ticking boxes, setting goals for the week and ultimately playing each game and taking it game for game so that we make a semi-final, win and play in the final and win once again,” says Petersen. “It would be amazing if we could get a hat-trick.”
Many young girls would hope to play Netball at institutions as renowned as Stellenbosch University one day. Not only that, but also once the playing career stops, coaching becomes another lucrative route to take.
“I think for me, first and foremost, it’s very important to work hard, have perseverance because it’s extremely difficult. It’s a huge sacrifice, but if you really want it and love it, you need to put in the extra hours.”
“Patience is important because I think when you’re coming from high school or if you’re coming from a high or when you are at a high in your career or you play well and you do fail, we tend to give in the towel, so really have patience.”
“As a person you also need to stay humble and to learn and grow from others as well because that’s also important for me that we feed and we help one another in the sport. Train with people that push you because you don’t push yourself, then I think what’s the point of also playing sport because that’s important.”
“Having seen so much success soon after playing Sasha-Lee is destined for greatness: “I think my career in coaching went from zero to 100 so quickly, that I actually haven’t thought of where I would actually want to end up. I literally started at school, went to Maties, coached there, coached provincially.”
“My mind is very open to coaching high level and I definitely want to do that one day if that is the plan for me. I think I’d really like to obviously coach provincially and I mean, if God willing, if it’s his plan that I do coach nationally someday.”
Photo Caption: Meet Sasha-Lee Petersen, the assistant coach at Maties Netball team. A former player and also a commentator, who’s coached at a High School and, in the junior ranks at Stellenbosch University, is gradually cementing her place as a coach of the future. Photos: Supplied
