Netball: Association Champs wrap up
The Ellinbank & District Football Netball League was represented by four junior netball teams last Sunday at Bairnsdale Netball Association for the annual Netball Victoria Association Championships.
Held annually, over 40 teams headed to East Gippsland for the Eastern Zone tournament in a bid to finish top two in the championship divisions to gain a birth in the finals at the State Netball Centre. Added to this pressure is to perform in two short 8-minute halves for matches with talent scouts roaming the courts ready to spot the up-and-coming talent.
After a solid training plan and a lead up tournament at Casey, it was all systems go for the four teams. The 17s commenced the day, bright and early at 8.50am with the perfect start for their tournament and the league defeating Traralgon NA 14 to 4.
Unfortunately, the competition was hot, and it was three losses before the next win against East Gippsland. With just the two wins for the day finishing 8th out of a ten-team competition, the girls didn’t let the results dampen their enthusiasm for the tournament and each other.
The 15s Champ side started with a huge win, 22 to 2 over Traralgon NA, but came back to early facing off eventual finalists Gippsland League losing 5:13 goals. The girls played some great netball getting wins over the big towns including Bairnsdale and Sale NA as well as East and North Gippsland Footy Netball Leagues.
With five wins for the day, they advanced to the semi-finals but finishing fourth faced off against Gippsland League again. With nine players for the day, fatigue set in and being in it at half time, eventually lost by 10 goals.
The 15s Reserve team didn’t start the day as well as liked, going down to the Warragul & District NA first team 11 to 2. That didn’t deter the team with a great win over West Gippsland in their next game 7 to 6.
Five wins for the day, including wins over Sale NA, Leongatha NA and Bairnsdale NA, the team made finals finishing 4th having to take on the undefeated Warragul again in the first semi. All players tried their best but unfortunately weren’t good enough going down to the eventual winner by 11goals.
The 13s had a tough draw to start the competition against West Gippsland (going down 18 to 3) and then Gippsland League (8 to 15), they finally got a win on the board in their last game of the day defeating Sale NA 10 goals to 8.
The team never gave up despite the opposition or scoreline and were in the games more often than not. Many in their first year or this level tournament will be much better for the experience and will come back stronger next time around.
Rep netball isn’t finished with matches versus West Gippsland at Lang Lang next week for the 13s and 15s team along with the Gippsland Football Netball Carnival during school holidays for the 17s. Finally, we’ll wait for the release of names who have gained the opportunity to trial for the Netball Victoria Talent Academy programs as players but also umpires.
A massive thank you to the coaches – Meg Ferguson & Simone Davis, Antonia McFarlane, Sally Wilson and Renalle Casey for their time, energy and commitment to coaching these young talented netballers. All but Meg are new to coaching at this level, so a huge effort for everyone to be so great with their time and commitment.
Added to the coaches are the Team Managers – Laura Tymensen, Raelene Phillips, Rebeca Harvey and Sarah Michie for their commitment to ensuring the coaches and players were all looked after.
A huge congrats and appreciation for the umpires who represented the EDFNL in Julie Loughridge, Emma Loughridge, Zara McNair and Ali Wilms – without you, our games couldn’t proceed!
Finally, the support from the EDFNL netball team including Karen Porter, Meaghan Newitt and Debbie Hickford for your time and efforts to ensuring everything in netball for the EDFNL is done the best way possible.
