Te Tai Timu making waves
Netballers up for new challenges
The rise has been swift for Te Tai Timu, but it doesn’t come as a huge surprise to Tash Marsters.
The head of the Porirua netball club, which has been in existence for only two years, is delighted that two Te Tai Timu sides will compete in the Kapi Mana netball premier 1 grade. The new season starts on Saturday.
She knows they will have their work cut out against perennial contenders like Norths and KBJ, but a one-point loss to Norths in last year’s final fills Marsters with confidence.
‘‘All of us [at Te Tai Timu] have come from different teams,’’ she said.
‘‘We’re all good friends and we love playing this game hard and for each other, but without the politics you get at some clubs.’’
There were no coaches at the fledgling club, Marsters said, with strategy and input on game day expected and welcomed by the players.
The Te Tai Timu second team, made up of players aged over 30, finished second in premier 2 last year and will join the club’s first team in premier 1.
There would be a lot of rivalry when the two teams eventually ran into each other, Martsers said, but it would stay on the court.
Pre- season is already well under way, with three tournaments played by the Te Tai Timu teams.
‘‘We’re ready for the start of this season, definitely. The girls are 100 per cent ready.’’
She said having a chance to play in the regional Super League would be a boon for the players, who would get exposure to a high calibre of netball each week.
Marsters said another Te Tai Timu team might be created soon, possibly a college-aged side.
The Kapi Mana premier 1 grade will be made up of Norths 1 and 2, Te Tai Timu 1 and 2, KBJ 1, Rockz 1 and teams from Mana and Tawa colleges.
Norths 1, Te Tai Timu 1, KBJ 1 and Rockz 1, who finished in the top four last season, will play each other in the first three weeks of the season for two places in the Super League.
Meanwhile, two Porirua netballers, Colleen Faleafaga and Mila Reuelu- Buchanan, were named in the 12-strong New Zealand secondary schools netball squad last week.
Coach Julie Seymour said the level of trialists was outstanding and it was a strong squad to compete in the under- 19 transTasman tournament next month.
Kapi Mana centre players Jermaine Howard-Vallance and Taylor have also made the Aotearoa Maori secondary school team.