Can They Spike Their Way to Glory?
After finally confirming its participation at the Africa Senior Club Champions, local volleyball outfit, Spiking Stars Ladies’ Volleyball Club, is eyeing a rare feat of reaching the knockout phase of the continental showpiece.
The annual interclub tournament, which attracts the best teams from Africa’s zones, is scheduled for Abuja, Nigeria, from April 1st to 14th.
‘Mawet’—as Spiking Stars is affectionately called—secured their spot at the continent’s top-tier tournament following a fairytale run in which they won a silver medal at the 2024 CAVB Zone VI Senior Volleyball Championships, held in Gaborone in December.
In an interview with Voice Sport, team Head Coach, Lee Tshipana, said it is fair to say that the team is almost ready for the tournament, looking at the preparations they have embarked on. “As always, we plan to do our best, but the goal is to reach the knockout stages. The idea is to always ensure that we play our best, capitalize on every opponent’s weakness, while maximizing our strengths as a team,” said Tshipana.
Stars are making their first appearance at the tournament and have carved their name in the history books, joining the likes of Police VI (men), BDF VI (ladies), and Kutlwano volleyball clubs, which have previously competed at the tournament. However, local teams against superior North African teams from Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Eastern African teams from Kenya and Rwanda, and those from Cameroon, have found it very difficult to advance to the knockout stages over the years.
“Strength and conditioning programs, combined with repetitive special training for different positions in the team, is what we are working on now. We have now moved to a more team-based approach to our training sessions, to work on team chemistry. We have changed our approach towards our training sessions in order to cater for mental strength, by intensifying our sessions and continuously ensuring that the players are in difficult situations that would get them to work harder and smarter during training. That should help them perform better at the tournament,” explained Tshipana when quizzed about the condition of the team. He further shared that all players are available for travel with the team, though there are a few injuries which he believes will be healed prior to the tournament.
