IN a first for Ngaere School, the Ngaere Diamonds Netball Team took out the Taranaki Mainland Trophy late last term, capping off a hugely successful season for them.
When the school's roll crept past 150, the rules all changed for the netball team as they qualified to play in the Taranaki Mainland Trophy - a competition for schools with rolls from 150 to 280.
No longer playing against smaller country school teams, the Diamonds found themselves up against teams from much larger schools, with much larger pools of talent.
"It was a bit daunting facing the big schools," said Ngaere School sports co-ordinator, Mark Hill, "but it was good to be involved and everybody worked really well as a part of a team."
The competition involved 10 schools split into two pools with the winners of Pool A taking on the winners of Pool B, and Ngaere found themselves playing against school teams including Puketapu and Mangorei in the run up to their final play-off against Manaia.
Mark credits the Diamond's success with their excellent teamwork and the highly skilled coaching of Jo Hunger, who has taken the team from success to success over the season, winning all their interschool matches and coming second in the satellite competitions.
For the Mainland Trophy competition, Mark and the team were extremely grateful for the excellent umpiring provided by Beverly Prankerd and Anna Hunger.
In the starting line-up were Malissa Alexander (C), Mikayla Nager, Natasha Brown, Grace Hunger, Madison Stratton, Alicia Jamieson and Frances Robertson-Best, with Anjela Frost, Micah Hintz, Casey Edgecombe and Rachel Martin completing
Ngaere netball champions
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