New netball carnival set to get players on the court Rivals bid for Shield

A DEARTH of competitive netball opportunities caused by the coronavirus pandemic has led to a new Townsville-based netball carnival.

The inaugural Mary Help of Christians Shield will take place from Friday afternoon, bringing together 15 teams from across North Queensland.

Southern Cross Catholic College head coach Sharon Finnan-white helped orchestrate the initiative, which will also include Townsville schools St Margaret Mary’s, Townsville Grammar, Calvary Christian College and St Anthony’s Catholic College, as well as schools from Proserpine, Mt Isa, Charters Towers and Ayr.

She said some schools would be bringing two sides – one for the Year 7 to 9 division and another for the Year 10 to 12s – with Finnan-white MVP medals to be bestowed in both age groups.

“I had a feeling we were going to get a good response because of the lack of competition schools have had,” Finnan-white said.

“With COVID we had competitions cancelled, we’ve had any other carnival that may have been run cancelled, a lot of school sport stuff was cancelled so we thought what can we do to give our girls, and other schools, an opportunity to get back on court?”

Given this week marks Mental Health Week, all nomination fees will go towards organisations that assist mental welfare support networks.

Finnan-white said this seemed an obvious step to take, particularly after she saw how the pandemic impacted her young players deprived of a sporting outlet.

“We knew that would be an issue for a lot of the students, not being able to participate in sport,” Finnan-white said. “It’s something they love and it’s good for their health and wellbeing, so hopefully this carnival will help in that regard.

“They’re very excited. I did see a lack of motivation once COVID hit and the local Townsville netball competition shut down as well.”

The carnival will begin at Southern Cross Catholic College from 3.30pm on Friday.