Helping Coast game to next level

LOVING NEW GOAL POSTS: Hiruharama School children look forward to a bright future for East Coast junior netball, with the help of a grant that has provided portable, adjustable goal posts. Standing (from left) are: Te Awanui Kururangi, Kym Rangiuaia, Eyah Henare, Charleene-Rose Huxtable, Mere Morice, Hukarere Mataira, Skylah Hellier, Humarie Clarke-Walker and Hemana Oneroa. Kneeling: Leighton Aupouri, Donella Huxtable, Blake-Ryder Lewis-Brown, Charlotte Grace, Te Ihiko Morice and Legend Collins. Picture supplied

An East Coast inter-school netball competition can take its game to the next level after being awarded a grant to help out.

ANZ Netball Grants give netballers across the country an opportunity to apply for anything they need to continue playing the game they love — from uniforms and training gear to resurfaced courts and money-can't-buy experiences.

After another difficult year for community netball, where Covid-19 cancelled games and shortened seasons, the grants are helping to ease the fundraising effort for clubs and teams.

Netball coordinator and teacher Denise Dalton Reedy applied for an ANZ Netball Grant because she wanted to restart the Ngāti Porou East Coast Schools Years 1 to 8 Future Ferns netball competition and needed portable, adjustable goal posts to get started.

They were awarded new portable, adjustable goal posts and post pads to help bring the community together through netball.

Denise says the grant will enable them to run the competition and to run Future Ferns netball “for years to come”.

“We couldn't have run the competition without these goals,” she said.

“The portable, adjustable goals give us the opportunity to change height and move them around the court.”

Each week, schools from around the region combine to make up 22 teams and play in the competition at Ngata Memorial College. Denise has been involved in the competition for more than 20 years.

Between extreme weather and Covid-19, the competition has been benched for the past three years, but Denise says the return to the game has been strong this season.

“We have netball fever at the moment. Every Wednesday, the kids are just buzzing around, their whole energy is focused on netball in the afternoon, and the event is flooded by whānau and supporters.”

Denise has been living in the community for over 30 years and has always been involved in netball.

“It's still as exciting for the kids as it was way back then,” she said.

ANZ marketing general manager Matt Pickering said community netball had had it tough over the past two years.

“We hope ANZ's support makes it easier for players to continue playing the game they love,” he said.

“We know it's the clubs and schools across the country that help to nurture the next generation of players, and we hope these grants give teams a boost and fill them with the confidence to play their best game.”