NORTHLAND netballers hoping to be unearthed as the sport's next generation of stars are preparing for their representative tournaments after squads were named following recent trials. Both the Netball North and the Whangarei Netball Centre age-group squads have been announced and teams gathered for their first training at the Whangarei NetballCentre at Kensington Park on Sunday. The teams will continue training toward their first representative tournament at the Morrin Road Courts in Auckland on June 8. For the U-17 Netball North Blue team, a Northland team, selected at trials in Whangarei and Kaikohe, the pinnacle of their competition this year will be the national U-17 tournament at North Harbour from July 7-10. For the U-19 and U-21 rep teams their tournament will be in Hamilton from July 14-18. The development of these age group players is vital to the ongoing success of netballers at the highest level and both tournaments provide the platform for developing that talent. The national selectors take a keen interest in these tournaments which regularly tag future stars, including current Silver Ferns Laura Langman, Maria Tutaia and Casey Williams, who were part of the New Zealand U-21 team that won the 2005 World Youth Netball Championships. The 2008 tournament will give young players the chance to contend for the U-21 team that will defend its world title next year in the Cook Islands.
