NETBALL FESTIVAL HELPS BRING WORLD CLOSER TOGETHER
A YEAR on from the Commonwealth Games and the Gold Coast will again welcome a host of overseas netball sides when the International Netball Festival comes to town.
Teams from Fiji, New Zealand and Malaysia will converge at Palm Beach over the Easter long weekend with organiser Jane Rushton saying that travelling teams will outnumber local sides.
“Everyone who’s been before, they talk about it forever,” she said.
“It’s an incredible life experience to interact with teams around the world and learn about how they play.
“An Australian team plays very different to a team from Fiji so it’s amazing to see the girls learning other cultures and bonding.”
The 30 teams and 600 netballers expected to attend will have the chance to rub shoulders with the Queensland Firebirds at a private coaching clinic and have a festival dinner at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.
Gold Coast teams will have the opportunity to sponsor Fijian teams and then have the chance to visit the archipelago later this year.
“We want to keep netball alive and give back,” said Rushton. “The festival is for everyone, you don’t have to be the best player. It’s all about the community and giving back at that grassroots level.”
While the Easter holiday scheduling have kept team numbers down for this year’s event, Rushton said she had already received interest from South African and English officials about taking part in future tournaments.