Netball: Court fitness put to early test

Eighteen teams got their first taste of serious netball on Friday with the Whangarei Netball Centre pre-season tournament.

Other than a few light showers, the weather remained fine and there was some great netball on display under lights.

The tournament gave some insights into the changes in club and team composition from 2012 and resulted in some strongly contested competition across all grades.

Six teams entered in A, B and C grades respectively and during the night they all played a round robin to determine the winner in each grade. Five games apiece tested the fitness and resilience of the players. Two of the C grade teams came across from Dargaville - Pouto and Kaihu.

In the A grade, the two dominant teams were Active Refrigeration Fideliter 1 and Whangaruru. The first half between these two teams was close, with only a goal in it, but in the second half Fideliter dominated.

Fideliter 1 pulled ahead to lead by nine goals and won convincingly, 20-11.

The new and interesting team to watch were the Manawanui U25s who won three of their games, losing to Fideliter 1 and Whangaruru.

Winners of the B grade were Wahine Toa Combined. Wahine Toa were lucky to take out this grade with a very narrow win over Active Refrigeration Fideliter 2. The game was very close and the final score was 11-10.

Whangaruru 1, Active Refrigeration Fideliter 5 and BBC were all equal on points for third at the end of the round robin with two wins apiece.

The winner of the C grade was Kamo High School 1 with their closest competition coming from the Dargaville team Pouto. The game between these two teams was very tight with only a goal in it. The final score was 15-14.

Results:

A Grade - Winners: Active Refrigeration Fideliter 1. Runner-up: Whangaruru.

B Grade - Winners: Wahine Toa Combined. Runner-up: Active Refrigeration Fideliter 2.

C Grade - Winners: Kamo High School 1. Runner-up: Pouto.

The Whangarei Netball Centre winter competition starts in earnest with premiers on Friday, April 5, with two weeks of grading played outdoors under lights. The premier competition will move indoors from April 19.

Senior (including secondary) and intermediate grades commence two weeks of grading on April 6 and juniors start the following week on April 13.