Border-line for O’Connell

The Netball South development team participating in the national netball league is ideal for Jennifer O’Connell.

The southern side caters for players from Otago and Southland, but 18-year-old O’Connell could claim to come from both provinces.

She has grown up playing in Otago, despite her mail being delivered to a Southland address.

The 1.93m shooter is from Kaiwera, near Gore on the border of the two southern provinces.

‘‘The house is in Otago, while the letter box is in Southland,’’ she said.

It never caused too many issues with O’Connell attending Waitaki Girls’ High School in Oamaru from year 10 and playing representative netball for both North Otago and Otago at age group level, while she also impressed selectors with performances for the blue and golds in the NPC last year.

She considers herself to be an Otagoite rather than a Southlander, although others think differently.

‘‘People say I have got the Southland accent sometimes, but I’m probably more of an Otago girl,’’ she said. South v Mainland Stadium Southland Tomorrow, 6pm

The side caters to players from a large geographic area, so they train in both Dunedin and Balclutha once a week.

Players clock up plenty of travel time as they play several games in Invercargill despite some of the squad living in Dunedin.

‘‘Most of us go down game day or the girls from down there go down the day before,’’ she said.

O’Connell was pleased with South’s firstup 46-43 victory over Northern in the new competition.

‘‘It was awesome finally getting out there to play, it was really good,’’ she said.

‘‘It helps the team feeling and boosts confidence for sure.’’

The 18-year-old is looking forward to the season where she looks to continue her development after gaining national recognition.

She finished with 15 goals from 19 attempts in the opening round win, finishing with 79 per cent success.

‘‘I just want to improve myself as a player because I am in the NZ U21, so I want to develop myself as a player,’’ she said.