UP-Tuks Netball are a South African netball team based at the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

. Their senior team represents the university in Varsity Netball. They also enter teams in

University Sports South Africa University Sports South Africa (USSA) is the governing body for sports competitions and student-athletes in South Africa. Team South Africa Team South Africa is the USSA team formed of student-athletes that represent the country at FISU ev ...

Netball South Africa Netball South Africa is the main governing body for netball in South Africa. It is affiliated to World Netball and Africa Netball. It is responsible for organising and administering the South Africa national netball team, the South Africa me ...

and local

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

and

Tshwane The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (; ; ), also known as the City of Tshwane (), is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng in South Africa. The metropolitan area is centred on the city of Pre ...

competitions. In addition they organise a university internal league.

History

South Africa

UP-Tuks has a history of providing players for the

South Africa national netball team The South Africa national netball team, also known as the SPAR Proteas, represent Netball South Africa in international netball tournaments, such as the Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Netball Quad Series and the Fast5 Netball W ...

. At the

2011 World Netball Championships The 2011 World Netball Championships () was the 13th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Singapore from 3–10 July. All 48 matches were played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. ...

, the South Africa squad featured five UP-Tuks players –

Erin Burger Erin Burger (born 10 February 1987) is a former South Africa netball international. Between 2007 and 2019, Burger made 120 senior appearances for South Africa. She was the first South Africa netball international to make 100 test appearances. W ...

, Chrisna Bootha, Amanda Mynhardt, Vanes-Mari du Toit and Leigh Ann Zackey. Mynhardt was also captain and the team was coached by

Elize Kotze Elize Kotze is a former South Africa netball international and national team head coach. As a player she was member of the South Africa team that were silver medallists at the 1995 World Netball Championships. As a head coach she took charge of ...

, a former UP-Tuks head coach. Burger was subsequently named player of the tournament.

Varsity Netball

In 2017, after finishing as runners-up in 2014 and 2016, UP-Tuks won their first Varsity Netball title. Their winning team was coached by Jenny van Dyk, captained by

Shadine van der Merwe Shadine van der Merwe (born 25 November 1992) is a South Africa netball international. She has represented South Africa at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games and at the 2019 and 2023 Netball World Cups. In South Africa, she played for UP-Tuk ...

and featured

Marlize de Bruin Marlize de Bruin (born 11 November 1994) is a South African sportswomen. As a netball player, she played for UP-Tuks in Varsity Netball and for Gauteng Jaguars in the Premier Netball League. She also represented the South Africa national net ...

and Ine-Marí Venter. In the final, they defeated NWU-Pukke 43–41. In 2019, UP-Tuks won their second title, this time defeating

Maties Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

48–43 in the final. In 2023, UP-Tuks won their third title after defeating UJ Netball 63–61 in the final.

Other competitions

;USSA UP-Tuks enter a team in the

netball tournament. UP-Tuks won the 2024 USSA netball tournament after defeating the host's, UJ Netball, 41–40 in an entertaining final. ;JNA Twizza League In 2021, UP-Tuks under-20 team won the Gauteng Twizza Netball Club Championships.

Gauteng Jaguars

UP-Tuks are closely associated with

Gauteng Jaguars Gauteng Jaguars are a netball in South Africa, South African netball team based at the University of Pretoria. Since 2014 in South Africa, 2014, together with Gauteng Golden Fireballs, they have represented Gauteng in the Telkom Netball League. ...

. Since 2017, Jaguars have been winning Premier Netball League titles. The core of their team is made up of UP-Tuks players. Jenny van Dyk, served as head coach of both UP-Tuks and Jaguars.

Finals

Varsity Netball

Notable players

Captains

Internationals

; ; *

Coaches

Head coaches

Assistant coaches

Honours

* Varsity Netball **''Winners'': 2017, 2019, 2023 **''Runners Up'': 2014, 2016, 2018

References

{{University of Pretoria Varsity Netball Netball teams in South Africa

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...