Irene Van Dyk tutors Dannevirke Junior Netballers

The Year 7-8 Netballers pose with Carla van der Merwe and Irene van Dyk on the Dannevirke Netball Courts on August 8.

It might have been wet early on but that did not stop over 40 senior primary netballers from turning up for coaching from legend Irene van Dyk and Carla van der Merwe on Saturday, August 8.

The pair were on tour to the netball centres of the southern North Island with the overall objective of promoting and retaining girls in netball.

Carla works for the Central Region of Netball Smart with the objective of reducing netball injuries through the correct movement of limbs. She spent an hour training girls in correct body movements like balance, landing and footwork. Her purpose particularly was to prevent ACL injuries caused by pivoting and landing awkwardly.

Irene van Dyke works as Junior Development Officer in the Future Ferns programme covering the southern part of the North Island.

She ran a series of cross-court activities where there were no nets, no court markings and no girl had a particular position and there was a target to score a goal after 10 consecutive passes by one team.

The philosophy was that all netball players should learn all the skills. Frequently a tall girl is pushed into goal shoot where she stays without learning the other court skills. If she stops growing and her mates catch up then she is disadvantaged skills wise playing mid-court. Conversely shorter girls grow and lack goal shooting skills.

Irene said numbers post-Covid have stayed strong in most regions but it is important for netball to keep its players and attract more.

Following the two-hour session the six senior netball teams resumed their competition with vigour and new found skills. Irene commented there were a good number of talented players on display.