She is by no means overly tall, and on the netball court she is often surrounded by skyscrapers. However, heart and courage are not measured in centimetres, and Martiné Jordaan from the North-West University (NWU) is a firebrand on the court.

She has even caught the eye of the selectors for the Protea team, and from 22 to 28 January she was part of a national training camp in Stellenbosch.

Here her fearlessness was clearly apparent, but she says she undergoes a metamorphosis when she leaves the court.

“I think people will be surprised if they hear I have a soft personality and that I am very reserved. I love meeting my friends for coffee at the different coffee shops in Potch, and being on the farm every now and then,” she informed us from Stellenbosch.

Martiné matriculated at the Potchefstroom Gymnasium in 2020, after which she started to study Pharmaceutics at the NWU’s Potchefstroom Campus.

Now she can live her netball dream to the full: “I find that netball at the NWU is really something special and unique. It is a culture that you will not easily find at another university.”

Her partnership with netball started next to the Mooi River.

“I found my passion for netball at school, and immediately fell in love with it because I am very competitive. What I enjoy most about netball is meeting new people, and that everyone cooperates to achieve a common goal. The highlight of my netball so far was definitely when I was selected for the President’s XII team, and when I was invited to play in the trials for the Proteas. I would like to play for the national team and play netball overseas one day,” she said.

She describes her performance and her never-say-die attitude when things do not go as they should on the court as her strengths, although she does not regard herself as a finished product yet: “I can still work on my communication with others so that I can be a leader through my actions.”

Back to the measuring tape – this is an incentive to her.

“What encourages me the most is that I want to be an inspiration to smaller netball players by showing them that anything is possible if you want it that much.”

And give your heart to the team.

“Although you are seen as an individual on the netball court, netball is a team sport. I would therefore not be able to achieve anything without my team.”

The provisional Protea training group was reduced from 30 to 25 players after the trials.

She is one of those 25.

Martiné Jordaan