New life for central netball: We have The Pulse

CENTRAL Region's ANZ Championship netball team is to be known as The Pulse.
The Pulse franchise is one of 10 teams that will compete in the new trans-Tasman netball championship and is the first New Zealand-based franchise to announce its name.
The ANZ Championship will commence in April next year, as five New Zealand teams and five Australian teams battle for netball supremacy.
The Central Franchise encompasses four regions including Eastern and Western Netball, Wellington Region and Netball Tasman and has the largest catchment area for players in New Zealand with 38,000 netball players from Gisborne to New Plymouth in the North Island and Buller across to Kaikoura in the South Island.
Netball Wanganui's technical development officer Lisa Murphy thought the new name was "quite catchy", and she believed the new set-up would help netball in Wanganui and the central region.
However, it would be a "big step up" for local players to make The Pulse.
"It's another step up from the Western Flyers [the old franchise] given that it's a huge region to cover," she said.
But Murphy said there would be stepping stones in place for young players, including a proposed Netball New Zealand club championship that would see the top club teams in the region play off.
"And we've got up-and-coming development teams in Wanganui so hopefully in years to come we may have some players in the Central team."
Central Region franchise chairman John Freer said the franchise would be "hungry, spirited and youthful".
"Utilising the professional skills and experience of design experts, Capiche, we were able to create a brand that delivers a real sense of belonging to something powerful," he said.
"Our franchise region has the largest catchment area for netball players in New Zealand and we are delighted to announce our name and launch a brand that will continue the great tradition of our communities getting behind our sport in central New Zealand."
The Pulse has a formidable coaching line-up, with the experience of renowned international coach, Jill McIntosh working with head coach and current Singapore Coach, Kate Carpenter, and former Flyers coach and New Zealand A assistant coach, Wanganui's Annette Pearce.
In total, there are 50,000 people directly involved with the sport across the franchise region, including players, officials, coaches, administrators, volunteers. RICHARD CROWLEY and Central Netball Regions Ltd.