Malawi’s Waya picked to coach Tanzania netball squad
Tanzania Amateur Netball Association, CHANETA has appointed Malawi’s most celebrated and award winning netball player, Mary Waya as the new head coach to train the national team, Taifa Queens for one year.
CHANETA Acting Secretary General, Rose Mkisi said that they have signed a one-year deal with the coach and she has already undertaken his new assignment to train the side ahead of the six-nation tournament in Singapore later this month.
“She is currently with Taifa Queens in Morogoro, where they have camped ahead of the Singapore meet starting November 29 to December 12,” said Mkisi.
Waya takes over from a long serving coach, Mary Protas, who led the Taifa Queens to finish second during the Africa Championship hosted in the country early this year. Waya was her assistant.
Mkisi said Waya’s appointment follows a call for interested and qualified personnel to apply for the post last month and among the applicant, Waya was their best choice for the job.
Malawi Queens retired shooter Waya and legendary attacker has been in the country since last year conducting various clinics. She also coached Filbert Bayi Schools before being appointed Tanzania national netball team assistant coach. Waya has a long history as a player when she started playing international-level netball at age 14, and has played in more than 200 representative matches for Malawi.
During that time she competed in two World Netball Championships (1995 and 2007), three Commonwealth Games (1998, 2006 and 2010), and two World Netball Series (2009 and 2010). Waya came to international prominence during the 2007 World Championships in New Zealand, where the Malawian national team (The “Queens”) finished 5th, their highest ever placing.
She announced her retirement after the tournament, but returned to international competition the following year. She remains the Malawi national team’s most high-profile player and was chosen as the flag bearer for the Malawi team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
After the 2010 World Series in Liverpool, Waya again announced herretirement from international netball, along with Queens’s veterans Peace Chawinga-Kalua and Esther Nkhoma. She turned her attention to coaching, and later that year stepped into the role of head coach of the Malawi U-20 netball team.
