Remote Northland netball team head to international netball festival

Pouto Girls under 18′s Netball team together at Dargaville High School Netball courts where they train up to three times a week.

Pouto Warriors under 18′s Netball team are heading to Fiji next month for the International Netball Festival, marking the first time a team from the Kaipara region has attended the prestigious tournament.

Team members mostly come from the small remote rural area of Pouto on Northland’s west coast peninsula which has a population of just 200. A few players, however, come from Dargaville and surrounds.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for the girls to compete against netball teams from around the world and to experience another country and its culture,” head coach TeAwhai Ulutaufonua said.

Despite extensive fundraising efforts by the team, they are several thousand dollars shy of their fundraising goal, Ulutaufonua said.

The team knew it would not be easy sourcing the funds needed to get them overseas so started fundraising earlier in the year.

Ulutaufonua said come rain or shine, the teens worked many weekends serving up over 600 hangi meals, cleaning and valeting upwards of 100 cars and selling well over 300 sausage sizzles.

The team have also sold numerous raffles, hosted a quiz night catering a three-course meal and catered several private events. They still have one more catered event to do, one more hangi sale and one more raffle and their last car wash is this Saturday.

In preparation for the tournament, the teens have also been training three times a week. They head to the pools once a week to improve their overall muscle endurance and strength.

The team have also just recently started seeking sponsorship from local businesses, friends and family and a Give A Little page has been created to help with the fundraising, so far they have received $220 but still require more funds.

“We are now at the stage where we really need either business sponsors for the team or donations from the wider public.”

“We just really hope that the community will get behind these girls,” Ulutaufonua said.

Pouto netball player Ilaisaane Ulutaufonua said working together to achieve their goals has been hard work but they have “enjoyed bonding and connecting with each other as this is a whole new experience”.

Fellow netballer Chloe Edwards can’t wait to head to Fiji with her team.

“We are all so grateful to our coaches who have been very kind in giving up so much of their spare time to help us all prepare for this event,” she said.

Anyone interested in being a sponsor of the Pouto girls netball team can email: poutonetballclub@gmail.com