Netball: Future stars show ball-handling skills

Northland's up-and-coming secondary school netballers showed off the region's talent at the recent Upper North Island Secondary Schools tournament in Auckland.

As a result of the tournament, Kaitaia will be promoted to B grade for next year's competition, after finishing second in the C grade, which will see them join Whangarei Girls' High School in the B grade.

This year Girls' High finished 11th in the B grade while Kerikeri finished 30th and will be relegated to C grade for next year. The tournament, which was held at the start of this month, saw a number of Northland schools participate in the tournament and this year there was a record number of teams, with more than 100 teams entered.

The tournament started well with a gorgeous spring day, sunny but crisp, a perfect day to be on the courts.

However, this weather did not last the entire week and there were some wet games and players during mid-week before it again came fine in time for the finals.

The game format is four, 10-minute quarters with a two-minute break at first and third quarter and a three-minute break at half time.

Most teams play two games a day during the five days so fitness, energy and performance of coaches, players, umpires and other officials is put to the test during the tournament.

Within the UNISS area there are only seven netball venues meeting the criteria of a minimum of 18 courts to hold this tournament.

These include North Harbour, Auckland, Waitakere, Howick/Pakuranga, Papakura, Harbourside and Hamilton. For 2014, the UNISS will be hosted by Waitakere.

There are three grades, A, B and C and at the end of the tournament the top three teams from B and C grade are promoted to the higher grade for the 2014 tournament and the bottom three teams in A and B grade are relegated to the lower grade for the 2014 tournament.

In 2013 there were 32 school teams in A and B grade and 46 school teams in C grade, which is the entry point for any schools not previously entered in 2012.

The winners of the A grade was Mount Albert Grammar School, the winners of the B Grade Lynfield and the winners of the C grade Alfriston.

Below are the results at the end of a long week for local Northland teams:

B Grade

11th: Whangarei Girls' High School

30th: Kerikeri (will be relegated to C grade in 2014)

C Grade

2nd: Kaitaia (will be promoted to B grade in 2014)

11th: Dargaville

22nd: Kamo

34th: Ruawai

35th: Bream Bay

36th: Tikipunga

37th: Rodney

38th: Bay of Islands

40th: Otamatea

42nd: Pompallier