Coach proud of girls’ resilience
Jess Huia says Southland netball’s future looks bright after her Southland Girls’ High School claimed the Invercargill Netball Centre premier A club title.
After stunning Rata in semifinal action, Southland Girls’ backed it up to beat St Mary’s in the grand final at ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill on Saturday.
Huia, who took over from Natalie Avellino as Southland Girls’ coach two years ago, said there was plenty of promise in the group which bodes well for the future.
‘‘There are some very seasoned players in these club teams and the majority of my team are Year 11 or Year 12. So for them to be able to win these big games is awesome, it’s really exciting for Southland’s future.
‘‘We’ve definitely got some promising athletes coming through the programme.’’
Huia said the build-up to the season had started during the summer before the disruption of Covid-19 restrictions interrupted their hard work.
That could have thrown the team but instead, they stayed on task as best they could.
‘‘It’s very special. It’s been an interesting season with the disruption of Covid so for the girls to be all-go and then not really sure what will be happening this year, I’m really proud of them for their resilience.’’
Huia circled the strength and conditioning work and close team culture as the key to its success.
‘‘We incorporate the school pride and history into our team culture, and we started this back in the summer. So it’s something we’ve built, helping them become better people and grow, sport is a vehicle for that.’’
There was some disappointment that the South Island and New Zealand Secondary Schools tournaments won’t take place this year because of Covid, given Southland Girls’ felt they could give those events a good shake.
However, they have their eyes on the Southland/Otago tournament instead, which started yesterday and will go through to tomorrow.
The team stayed together in Riverton on Saturday night where they celebrated over a meal before switching the focus to the next assignment, the school tournament.
Naturally Huia said the target was another title.
‘‘It is a completely different game when you are playing secondary school netball but our goal is to win, that’s the outcome. But I guess it’s all the learnings and having this time to build towards being in tournament mode.’’