Awesome season ends

No wonder St Matthew's Collegiate sixth former Jesse Smith often uses the word "awesome" to describe her experiences over the 2007 netball season.
Smith, 16, from Martinborough, was a member of the St Matthew's team which won Netball Wairarapa's premier one competition and the Millennium Cup secondary schools tournament, as well as improving their seeding by four places when placed seventh at the Lower North Island championships.
But much more than that, Smith was identified as an outstanding prospect by being selected in Netball Wellington region level two high performance squad and a Netball New Zealand development squad from which the national secondary schools team will be chosen.
A versatile player who plays at goal defence, wing defence or goalkeep, Smith's enjoyment of the team aspects of netball sees her nominating St Matthew's victory over warm favourites Harcourts in the final of the Wairarapa premier one series as her highlight of the season.
"Winning that competition was a goal we set for ourselves at the start of the season and it was awesome to pull it off," she said. "We had our ups and downs but we played really well in the final & it was an awesome win."
The intensive training programme, both fitness and skills-wise which she will have to undertake through her inclusion in the high performance and development squads doesn't faze Smith, a natural sportswoman whose other sporting credits include tennis, volleyball and athletics.
In fact, she is now in the process of preparing for the national secondary schools track and field championships in December, where she hopes to compete in both the high jump and the triple jump.
"I like to keep myself fit anyway so it just gives me something extra to think about," she said.