Netball: Talented teens welcome Magic opportunity

Malia Paseka.

Kia Magic have bolstered their roster for the 2014 ANZ Championship netball season with the addition of teenage talent Jamie-Lee Price and Malia Paseka.

Defender Price, a student at Mt Albert Grammar School, made her debut with Magic this year while shooter Paseka is transferring south after spending her first season in the semi-professional ranks with the Northern Mystics.

A talented playmaking shooter, Paseka, 18, was a member of the successful New Zealand under-21 team which recently outclassed Australia to win the World Youth Netball Championship in Scotland.

"I have been fortunate to watch Malia's development from a very young age and I believe she is undoubtedly a potential star of New Zealand netball," Magic coach Julie Fitzgerald said.

"She is a very athletic player with exceptional timing and is capable of mixing it with much older and more experienced opponents. Malia was one of the stars of the triumphant New Zealand 21s, and it will be very exciting to watch the development of this young player over the next couple of years."

Similarly, there are big wraps on versatile 17-year-old defender Price.

She was co-captain of this year's New Zealand Secondary Schools team which won the annual Trans Tasman Secondary Schools tournament.

Price will team up with her fellow co-captain, midcourter Samantha Sinclair, who has also signed with Magic.

In her final year at school, Price is excited to be returning to Magic.

"Leaving school at the end of this year means I'll be able to fully concentrate on just Magic," said Price, who was heavily involved with school netball throughout the last season.

"I'm really looking forward to putting sole focus on my second season with Magic and excited by the opportunity of working with Julie [Fitzgerald]."

Magic now have 11 players on their books for 2014, leaving a further two to be named later this week.
Magic players confirmed: Jamie-Lee Price, Malia Paseka, Grace Rasmussen, Jo Trip, Ellen Halpenny, Courtney Tairi, Casey Kopua, Leana de Bruin, Jo Harten, Brooke Leaver, Samantha Sinclair.