Mangonui reps on a learning curve

Mangonui Netball Centre rep team (in black).

NETBALL

The Mangonui Netball Centre took five age-grade teams to the first representative tournament of the winter season at Northcote earlier this month.

The Netball North tournament on Sunday, June 15, provided a whole new level of competition for the Mangonui teams which included Year 7s, 8s and 9s sides along with Under 15s and 17s squads; with only Denise Pure's Year 9s managing to return home with a win notched on their belts.

However, all girls, coaches, and management reportedly enjoyed their time away, MNC rep convenor June Matiu said, with the entourage of around 60 players arriving in Auckland the day beforehand. While she admitted it wasn't the most successful of road-trips in Mangonui netball history, Matiu said it was important to take the Far North players out of their comfort zone and expose them to the standards played by other centres.

"All came away having learned from the whole experience," she said, noting some of the younger girls in particular had been left in awe at the height of their opposition, and even the size of the complex itself which had 20 courts.

"It was a whole new ball game for them. I can't knock them [the players], they were playing on a different surface ... They still gave 100 per cent, and competed well."

Matiu noted there was no rest, with the players back home and straight back into training before the next leg in the series in Whangarei on August 3.