Celebrating Coach Thesline Davids A Trailblazer in Women’s Basketball

by Sandisiwe Msibi | Aug 15, 2024 | Sports

There is no better way to celebrate Women’s Month than by mentioning Coach Thesline Davids. Davids is the head coach of the University of Pretoria’s women’s basketball team, who in less has made a huge impact on the team and club at large in less than a year.

Recently, Davids led her team to victory at the University Sport South Africa (USSA) basketball 3×3 championship. This victory, along with another at the Confederation of Universities and Colleges Sports Association (CUSCA) Region 5 Games,  showed her exceptional coaching abilities. Both games were hosted here at UP.

Davids spoke with PDBY, reflecting on the team’s preparation for the USSA 3×3 championships. She said, “My desire was for my team to win the USSA 3×3 championships through their shooting ability. We worked on [our] shooting form for two to three weeks before the tournament. I wanted all my players to be a threat whenever they had the ball, and I wanted us to shoot as much as we could in the games. The aim was for them to become comfortable in their ability to shoot.” She continued, “We won that tournament because we worked on ourselves. Winning it at home meant more to us than anything else. As the coach, I am just extremely proud of my girls. They deserve all the praise for winning USSA 3×3 back-to-back at home.” She recalls this moment as one of her best moments as a TuksBasketball coach.

Davids’s experience at the CUCSA tournament was remarkable and earned her a place among the most respected coaches in the country. As a first-time coach who coached the national students’ team, she recognised the significance of excelling in a home-hosted tournament. “Once I knew I’d be leading the team and that we were hosting, I realised this was bigger than me. It was about bringing players from different universities [together] to represent our country,” she explained. The team’s strong talent and readiness shone through as they went undefeated and clinched the CUCSA title.

Looking ahead, Davids and the TuksBasketball ladies are preparing for the 5×5 USSA championships in December, which will be hosted by Stellenbosch University. It will be interesting to see how they perform, as they have been runner-up for three consecutive years in this competition.

Sandisiwe Msibi
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