A grand plan for festival
INTERNATIONAL Netball Festival organiser Jane Rushton has plans to double the size of the annual Gold Coast tournament after watching hundreds of junior stars wrap up a “hugely successful” campaign at Palm Beach last night.
Thirty teams from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Malaysia competed over five days at the eighth edition of the festival, with Coast side Movers (under-15s) claiming success alongside Kiwi outfits Far North Ferns (under-13) and St Margaret’s A (under-18).
With the competition launched in Fiji for the first time in December and plans underway for an inaugural New Zealand tournament next year, Rushton said she dreamt of taking things even further.
“I’d like to end up double the size and get people from all around the world like South Africa and the UK. We want to keep netball alive,” the New Zealand native, who moved to the Coast 10 years
ago, said. “This was a huge success. It was a really good, clean competition from everyone.
“We had a very high level of team sportsmanship and the level of competition this year was very high.
“If you put something out there, like a trip or competition, like this, it gets kids playing in the community. We’ve had the Fiji one and are looking at one in NZ.
“People do come and the girls do get seen and poached and asked to play in different leagues and things. I’m very much a community girl and I like to keep the girls in sport.”
Rushton said the Fijian tournament was about more than just netball.
“When we go to Fiji, as part of the players’ package they actually sponsor a local village.”