Memorial tournament attracts top-class field

LEGEND: This weekend's netball tournament is in memory of the late Helen Dodge. PHOTO: FILE

The Harbourside Netball Centre representative tournament on Sunday at Mount Maunganui will be tinged with tears as players and officials remember a giant of the game in the region.

The Helen Dodge Memorial Tournament will honour the long-time Harbourside Netball Centre chief executive who died 12 months ago.

When Helen and husband Bruce shifted to Tauranga from Gisborne, Helen was quickly recruited to play for Tauranga Old Boys netball team. Her first coaching assignment came with daughter Lisa's Brookfield Primary team, which led to volunteering to assist with junior management at the old Cliff Rd netball courts.

A transition to senior volunteer management saw Helen involved with the amalgamation of the Western Bay of Plenty netball centres that formed the Harbourside Netball Centre.

Twenty years ago she accepted the chief executive position of the newly restructured regional netball centre.

One of her first changes was to gradually move Saturday netball to be played on several week nights to better accommodate a changing environment.

The change allowed more players to take part in the various competitions with player numbers skyrocketing.

Her lasting legacy to the Harbourside Netball Centre will be the programmes she introduced to Western Bay of Plenty Netball.

The ANZ Future Fern and Fun Fern programmes, which enabled young children to learn to play netball in a fun environment before they enter competitive netball, were quickly adopted.

"Our board and members wanted to host an event that would pay tribute to the incredible time and effort that Helen put into our sport," Harbourside Netball Centre chief executive Nicola Compton said.

"We could think of no better tribute to Helen than an age-group representative competition."

The concept of the Helen Dodge Memorial Tournament is to retain young players in the game by way of age-group representative competition.

"The under-17 and 19 grades provide the players with an opportunity to be identified by the Waikato/Bay of Plenty selectors who will have a presence on the day," Compton said.

More than 400 young netball players are expected to compete in Year 7 and 8 grades and under-15, 17 and 19 divisions. The Helen Dodge Memorial Tournament has attracted entries from Te Awamutu, Whakatane, Rotorua, Eastern Bay of Plenty, Taumarunui, Taupo, Putaruru, Otorohanga, Tokoroa, Hamilton and Mercury Bay.