Chawinga-Kalua at peace
Despite the hullabaloo surrounding her appointment as Malawi Queens coach, Peace Chawinga- Kalua, is unfazed with what is happening behind the scenes and instead, she is getting ready to make an immediate impact with the senior netball side
Her appointment faced resistance from Malawi National Council of Sports who questioned the recruitment procedure arguing it was not in line with recommendations the council made last year.
The Complex Tigresses coach penned a year-long part time deal and is now focused on her new challenge when the dust settles.
Chawinga-Kalua has been tasked to lead the Malawi national netball team to break into top four. She is expected to head the technical panel when Malawi Queens take part in Diamond Challenge in South Africa next week and then compete for Africa Netball Championship in Namibia.
“As far as I am concerned, I was offered a contract which I accepted by signing, so I don’t mind what is happening in the background,” she said.
Chawinga-Kalua said she had already developed tentative plans if the Netball Association of Malawi (Nam) sanctions Malawi Queens camp.
“It’s unfortunate that this is happening now. We are already behind schedule in terms of preparations. We knew about the World Netball Championship some years ago but nothing was done until now. I will not focus on the problems but solutions,” she said.
The former Malawi Queens skipper said she worked with most of the players in the current national teams when she was coaching the Malawi Under-21 that finished fifth at the World Youth Games in Cook Islands in 2009.
“Most of the players including Mwawi Kumwenda were part of the Under-21 squad which I helped to finish fifth at the World Youth Championship,” she said.
After her escapades with the Malawi national under-21 netball team, Chawinga-Kalua was appointed as an assistant to then Malawi Queens head-coach Edith Kaliati and the tenure ran from 2011 to 2012.
In 2012 she was controversially dropped from the Malawi Queens technical team that travelled to Australia as she was replaced by Blue Eagles coach Sam Kanyenda.
In 2013, Chawinga-Kalua and Mary Waya were named joint-coaches as Malawi Queens surrendered the Africa Netball Championship on home soil.
The following year, Chawinga- Kalua was overlooked as Nam appointed Waya as the Queens coach. This time Chawinga-Kalua has been named coach with Waya being demoted to the post of assistant coach.
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