Bright future for young netball players
Putaruru College netball coach Alicia Taylor was blown away by her Senior A Netball Team girls during a recent Gold Coast Netball Carnival.
The girls impressively finished runners up at the carnival which featured a total of 64 teams from New Zealand and Australia, across the various levels on offer.
‘‘This is the first time we have gone to this carnival. The last time a netball team went to Australia from Putaruru College was 13 years ago,’’ she said.
‘‘We have been developing netball here for four or five years and these girls have really proved themselves. I am really proud of them and what they achieved.’’
Taylor, who has been coaching since she was in high school herself, said the skill level of the 11 players was up there with the best.
‘‘They are one of the best teams I have coached skill wise and they also have good attitudes, ‘‘she said.
‘‘A lot of them have the potential to go professional. It is just a matter of whether or not they choose to because they are stuck in the mentality that they are from a small town and they can’t achieve things. But they have achieved big things. It’s just a matter of believing in themselves.
‘‘I lose a few of the Year 13 ones next year so hopefully they will carry on in reps teams and continue to play some good netball.’’
The team, which featured 15 to 18-year-olds, said finishing as runners up was ‘‘emotional’’.
‘‘There were 24 teams in our section and some of the 20 30 minutes games were easy and some weren’t,’’ one player said.
‘‘We also really noticed that the New Zealand teams were a lot more physical than the Australian teams but all the New Zealand teams were really supportive of us in the final and we want to thank everyone who allowed us to take part.’’
Taylor said the players started fundraising for their trip to the Gold Coast in October with an auction night giving them their biggest boost.
‘‘The support from the community was amazing and I was really blown away by it too,’’ she said.
She said the team was now preparing to take out the champion round of a local competition ahead of the 2016 Upper North Island Secondary Schools (UNISS) Tournament from August 29 until September 2.
This year the Papakura Netball Centre will host the UNISS competition.