Netball: Whangarei in tough clashes

Liehana Shelford-Tito, Whangarei Netball Centre Under-17 goal attack.

Whangarei Netball Centre's Under-15 representative team travelled to New Plymouth for their North Island age-grade netball championship and scored a mixed bag of results.

On the first day of competition, the Under-15s had a win against Taranaki Development and narrow losses against Gisborne and North Harbour.

That left them competing on the second day in the bottom eight of their grade, in which they had a win against Otorohanga and Manawatu Development, meaning they were playing for ninth-to-12th place.

They won their first game against Te Awamutu on the third day, only to lose by five goals to Wellington Gold, and ended up 10th in the B grade.

In the second week of the school holidays, the Whangarei Under-17 representative team travelled to Mount Manganui to compete in their Netball New Zealand age-group championship. A total of 39 teams took part, in eight sections.

The Whangarei Under-17 team were in the D section with Wellington, Harbourside, Hawke's Bay and Pukekohe.

On the first day, the Whangarei girls had a loss to Wellington but a win against Hawke's Bay, which was backed up on the second day with wins against Harbourside and Pukekohe.

The three wins put them in the top 16 but on the third day they suffered defeat to Christchurch and a narrow loss to Kapi Mana, knocking them out of the top eight.

A win against Howick Pakuranga on the final day positioned them for a playoff against Auckland 2 for 13th and 14th. The Whangarei side lost this game to finish 14th overall.

Given Whangarei is not a big provincial centre and is geographically challenged at times in terms of competitions, it was a pleasing result for the Under-15 and Under-17 teams.

It was some players' first championship experience, up against some of the big provincial city teams, and a chance to benchmark themselves against some of the country's best.