Netball North Harbour teams made the most of the Netball North Field Day at Whangarei, taking out every age group except the U17 which went to the Netball North Origin team comprising of the top players from the Netball North area.
The annual competition was held at the Whangarei NetballCentre on Sunday. The event involves representative teams from all the netball centres within the Netball North region including North Harbour, Hibiscus Coast, Kaipara, Rodney, Whangarei, Northern Wairoa, Kerikeri, Bay of Islands and Mangonui. Representative age groups participating include Years 7, 8, 9, Under 15 and Under 17.
Whangarei teams in Years, 7, 8, 9 and U15s all finished third in their age groups and the U17s finished fourth but were one of the better performing teams, only just beaten by the area rep team and eventual champions.
In some instances, North Harbour were announced as the winners for the fifth consecutive year.
The other centres, however, are producing some great talent and this tournament is an opportunity for all centres to be represented and their players to be show cased. It was great to see the runners up in each age group shared among the other centres, including some of the small ones within the region.
A number of players were talent identified from the U15 and U17 age groups. The process for the talent identification was each U15 and U17 coach was asked to name opposing players of note after each game and then those players most named were included in those to receive a certificate. They included Whangarei Netball Centre's Jess Cole, who plays for BBC Waipu in Premier Reserve grade.
Two Whangarei umpires Emma Espie and Vicky Powell were also selected as part of a youth umpire Identification programme.
Overall it was a successful day and although it was overcast, the rain stayed away. It was also great to see the talent around in the Netball North region and within our own Whangarei centre area.
