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South Africa’s Under-21 Spar Baby Proteas centre, Karla Victor, is counting down the days to her debut at the Netball World Youth Cup in Gibraltar from 19–20 September.
The Baby Proteas will contest Group D alongside Malawi, Fiji, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago in the 20-team tournament.
Victor, a Puma ambassador, says the reality of being named in the final squad of 12 players is still sinking in.
“I’m excited, and now it’s finally starting to feel real. We’ve been training hard, and we’re leaving this week. I collected my visa a few days ago, and it still felt like a dream,” she told SABC Sport.
Victor, now 20, missed out on the excitement of the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town as she was in Trinidad and Tobago competing at the Commonwealth Youth Games.
“I was jealous because my family wanted to take me to watch the World Cup, but I couldn’t go. This time, I won’t just be watching on TV—I’ll be playing,” she said with a smile.
Expectations are high after the Junior Springboks won the Rugby Under-21 World Cup earlier this year.
“A lot of people want us to bring back gold too. It’s going to be tough against the likes of Australia, New Zealand, and England, but we’ll be happy with a top-three finish. We believe we can get out of our pool and then take it step by step,” Victor added.
Earlier this week, Puma launched the Baby Proteas’ new kit, which Victor had the chance to model.
“The partnership between Puma and Netball SA is fantastic. The kit is stylish, lightweight, and comfortable. It’s a bold purple colour—not everyone is used to it, but I love it,” she said.
Victor’s long-term dream is to break into the senior Proteas side. Born in Bloemfontein, she began playing netball at the age of seven.
She currently represents Free State Crinums in the Telkom Netball League, as well as the University of Cape Town in the Varsity Netball competition, who qualified for the competition next year.
Her role model in the sport is her namesake, Karla Pretorius, a seasoned member of the senior Proteas team.
She had the privilege of playing alongside her at the Free State Crinums, where she observed her training, learned from her performances, and received valuable advice.
