KEY POINTS:
A handful of New Zealand netball's finest teen players are already well on the pathway towards 2011.
In their baptism in international netball a few weeks ago, the New Zealand Under-21 side - a collection of 15- to 19-year-olds who had never played together before - came under the heat of some of the world's best senior sides giving them a final warm-up to the World Championships.
And yet the under-21s performed like seasoned champions, winning seven of their nine matches.
They beat South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Malaysia, Barbados, Wales, Singapore and Scotland; their losses came in another match with the Proteas and a 66-60 defeat to Jamaica, who won the worlds' bronze medal a week later.
Their aim was to taste the diverse styles of netball before defending the World Youth Cup title in 2009. But ultimately some may work their way into the Silver Ferns for the next World Championship in 2011.
In a goal to lead young talent on the right roads towards future Silver Fern selection, Netball New Zealand has laid down pathways. The latest challenge is to ensure they don't get waylaid in next year's inaugural professional league.
"The high-performance pathways are the critical factors in the Silver Ferns achieving success with some level of consistency," says Netball New Zealand high-performance director and former Ferns captain Tracey Fear.
"We fell short by a couple of goals this time, but our aim is for back-to-back successes: winning the world championships then winning the Commonwealth Games. To do that, we have to have talent constantly bubbling through the pathways."
Casey Williams, the outstanding defender of the latest world championships, is a case in point.
She was a reserve in the 2003 New Zealand secondary schools squad, but was called up when another player withdrew, then crowned player of the transtasman schools tournament. Fast-tracked into the Under-21s, she made the New Zealand A squad the following year, and debuted for the Ferns less than a year later.
Some, like Laura Langman and Paula Griffin, take a quicker route - straight from the Under-21s to the Ferns.
The paths begin at 144 young teens, selected in a talent development programme before they are contenders for the national secondary schools team. From there it is the Under-21s, to New Zealand As and then the Silver Ferns squad.
At each level, Ferns coaches Ruth Aitken and Leigh Gibbs work closely with other coaches and sports science specialists to ensure their conditioning will lead them to where they eventually need to be for Silver Ferns selection.
The test now lies in ensuring this talent gets exposure and experience in the new transtasman league, the ANZ Championship - a 69-match contest from April to July.
"It's a concern we have with the ANZ Championships - making sure we keep those pathways open for the future generation of Ferns," Fear says.
There are 36 fewer places available for New Zealand players than in last year's national league. The import rule (one foreign player per regional team) makes sure New Zealanders get exposure.
"It's a challenge for the coaches of these teams: do they choose a promising up-and-comer over an experienced head?" Fear says.
"All players in Netball New Zealand squads are carded, so they have free access to conditioning experts, nutritionists, sports psychologists - the whole realm of sports science and medicine. We want to make sure those players are working hard through this summer so they front up for the franchise trials in the very best condition.
"We're stepping into a real unknown here; there's been no competition like it.
"The best case scenario is that it does everything in terms of developing our players. It's an opportunity to close the gap we perceive there was between National Bank Cup players and the international level of play."
(The trouble is, of course, it will do the same for the Australians).
Within the four-year cycles of the world championships, the under-21s and the New Zealand A squads vie for priority. The As get it leading up to a world champs or Commonwealth Games - as feeders and training partners to the Ferns.
For the next two years, the As take a step back and the attention goes to the NZU21s, and their World Youth Cup title defence in the Cook Islands. Like the Silver Ferns, they've never won back-to-back championships.
The contracts of the current Ferns run out next month, and a new squad won't be chosen until the end of the transtasman league. The players can't go into hibernation - they have Ferns programmes to maintain.
"It's been such a huge year for these players, so it's important they go home and work through their recovery plans so they'll be in the best shape possible for the ANZ champs," Fear says.
An internal debrief will critique the Ferns' performance, and their 2008 calendar will be set by the New Year. Fear says they will try to confirm an international schedule through to 2011 as soon as possible.
