Netball: Otane Sports Club teams salute bank's gear grant to help ease burden on club parents

When you're a township establishment, such as Otane Sports Club, it's the incremental gains that contribute towards achieving goals that may seem daunting at first.

"It was just enough to help out our Central-based netball teams," said Otane Thirsty Whale player/coach Tammy Kupa after the club received a timely fillip when it won a grant for netball gear from the principal sponsors of the premier competition in New Zealand, the ANZ bank, on Tuesday night.

The club received about $1000 worth of balls, bags, bibs and such at the Central Hawke's Bay College netball courts after Kupa's sister, Rebecca Baker, lodged an application about three months ago for a rural community of about 500.

The club's flagship netball team have been a powerhouse in the Hawke's Bay elite competitions dating back more than a decade although Napier Girls' High School Senior A team stole the Super 8 and pre-competition Shield-round thunder last season.

"We are a part of a proud, committed, loyal club which has been extremely successful not only in our local competition but also in the wider Hawke's Bay District," Baker had submitted.

"We can't source a lot of funding as we are in such a rural location. Our club also has one senior rugby team and four junior ones who are also requiring assistance from the club."

Kupa said trying to prop up five netball teams tended to become costly for a club of that ilk so inheriting gear had eased the fiscal burden on it a little.

"Our club's known for not charging a lot as other clubs," she said, revealing players only paid $75 each in subscriptions.

"We don't want to put pressure on our mums, or even our dads who are playing rugby, by having hundreds of dollars in subs so that's kind of a big drawcard for people to want to play at our club and that's what we're all about."

The Farmers manager of the Hastings branch thanked the bank for picking them from countless other clubs who had applied for the grant. The bank has granted more than $700,000 to netball communities to date.

Sponsorship head Sue McGregor said it was proud to support Kiwi netballers at every echelon, from grassroots level to elite athletes in the national premiership.

"We're delighted to be on Otane Sports Club's team and to be providing them with this new gear," McGregor said.

"We hope that Otane Sports Club netball players feel supported to be the best they can be and play with confidence."

She encouraged other clubs in the region to lodge applications to become a member of the ANZ On Your Team by visiting the website anzcourtside.co.nz