Netball: Plenty of young talent on show at tournament

Whangarei Netball Centre U-17 goal keep Kaea Robinson gets an intercept in a game against Kerikeri's U-17 side. Photo / Judy Macdonald

More than 60 players were talent identified at the Whangarei Netball Centre's (WNC) recent Field Day Representative tournament.

Catching the eye of the identifiers were eight players from the Year 9 grade, 29 from under-15 and 24 from under-17, showing there is some real talent on offer in Northland.

Watching the day unfold were several talent spotters including Noeline Taurua, assistant coach of the Northern Mystics, Helene Wilson, the Northern Zone under-23 coach, Hamish Barton, Northern Zone performance manager, Tia Winikeri, the Northern Zone community manager and Tania Heap, the Northern Zone coach development officer.

The tournament itself ran well and saw teams compete from within the Netball Northern Zone, which includes Mangonui, Bay of Islands, Kerikeri, Rodney, Northern Wairoa, Kaipara and Te Raki Paewhenua (North Harbour).

All age groups played a round-robin to determine a winner.

The under-17 teams played games of four 10-minute quarters while all other grades played games of 10 minute halves.

Representing WNC were the under-17s, under-15s, Year 9s, Year 8s and Year 7s.

Each team provided an umpire and the Whangarei Netball Centre was also able to provide umpires for other centres showing the size and depth of the umpires here. Three visiting umpires obtained their zone award on the day.

Results
Year 7: Winners: Northern Wairoa; runners-up: Kaipara.
Year 8: Winners: Kerikeri; runners-up: Whangarei.
Year 9: Winners: Kerikeri; runners-up: Rodney.
Under-15: Winners: Kerikeri; runners-up: Whangarei.
Under-17: Winners: Whangarei; runners-up: Kerikeri.