Saturday was festival day for our Future Ferns. Year 1-4 players arrived in their spectacular dress-ups, warming up together to music, led by community development officer Natale Hales and our star helpers Ruby Bullock, Ella Campbell, Ruby McIntyre and Lexi Williams.
Teams then played a mini tournament and finished up with a free sausage sizzle, kindly sponsored by Mitre 10 Mega. The morning was beautiful and sunny, free fruit was shared around, and many teams received spot prizes for their efforts. These players now have the opportunity to re-register through their school to play again next term, which will also finish with a fun-filled festival day.
Year 5 and 6 players have finished their round of six-a-side netball and will play the traditional seven-a-side format next term. This is a great opportunity for these teams to put the skills they’ve been learning in their modified games into practice.
Natale, the development officer, and star helpers will be available on Saturday mornings to help with this transition. In addition, Natale is available to visit schools to help with training players to learn the seven-a-side format, or anything else coaches would like support with. Please email ndo@netballwhanganui.co.nz to book a suitable time.
Year 7 and 8 have finished their first round, which involved promotion/relegation. The team to watch in this competition appears to be Whanganui Intermediate Puma A2, who were promoted to the A grade and then won their first game. Ruapehu A had a solid first round and, although suffering a narrow loss to a strong Rutherford Junior High School A1 on Saturday, one would expect them to bounce back and work hard to secure a semifinal spot.
While club and school teams are resting over the school holidays, the under-14, under-16 and under-18 rep teams are attending their final tournaments of the season. The under-14s, coached by Bailee Kauika (who also coaches Whanganui High School Junior A1 who play in our premier two Monday night competition), are playing at the North Island Junior Championships in New Plymouth in the under-14 A grade.
This is a huge challenge for the girls and, although facing some tough opponents, they’re giving it their all and building stronger through the experience. The under-16 team, coached by Tash Bullock who is also one of Netball Whanganui’s top umpires and an umpire coach, are playing in the under-16 B grade at the same tournament. The team have also put out some solid performances and are currently playing for a top eight position in the grade.
Next week the under-18 team, coached by Lisa Murphy (also Whanganui High School A1 coach), head to Dunedin to their national tournament. This year heralds the reintroduction of a representative team in this age group, and it is exciting to see them proudly representing Whanganui at a national level.
Later in July, Netball Whanganui will hold trials for an open women’s team to compete at two smaller tournaments followed by nationals in Auckland in mid-September.
To be eligible for selection, players need to be playing in the premier Monday night competition and be over-18. Registration is on the Netball Whanganui website.
Netball Whanganui has not had a women’s team compete at this level for some time. Coach TeRina Peina (also coach of Kaiwhaiki A1) is looking forward to seeing Whanganui’s top players come together to represent in Auckland.
The David Jones Motors Premier netball competition restarts on Monday, July 22, at Springvale Stadium, so bundle up warm and get down there to support our top netballers.
