The Whangarei Netball Centre has hosted three young representative teams from South Canberra, Australia.
The teams from South Canberra included an under-17 team (team 1), an under-16 team (team 2) and an under-15 team (team 3). Given the Whangarei Netball season has not yet started, three teams (teams, 1, 2 and 3) to compete against them were put together largely using ex-Whangarei representative players, current Whangarei performance centre players plus players from Whangarei Girls High School teams 1 and 2. These teams loosely fell into the same age group categories.
The format for the day involved a round-robin competition with the three South Canberra playing the three Whangarei Netball Centre teams. The day was a win fest for the Whangarei team 1 with them winning all three of their 40-minute games. The South Canberra under 16 team (team 2) was runner up with only the one loss.
There was a distinctive difference in the style of play, with all the South Canberra players using the renowned Aussie Diamonds one-armed pass. This formed a significant part of their play and meant the ball was difficult to defend. They also implemented an over the ball and zone defence. In contrast the Whangarei players used a variety of two-handed passes predominantly and this is akin to the Silver Ferns style of play. They also implemented a man-to-man defence.
Overall it was a successful day and other than a light shower the weather was kind. It was also good to see some of the emerging young talent in the Whangarei competition and it was heartening to know that local players were competitive against a representative side from another country.
