Netball Taranaki gift 250 balls in 'Balls for Bubbles' giveaway

Kaylee Smith (11) with her new netball.

Training in their bubble will be a lot easier for 250 netballers who were gifted a new netball.

Netball Taranaki ran a "Balls for Bubbles" giveaway through Facebook, where parents had to click a link to register their child for the giveaway.

The balls were gifted to Year 1 to Under-16 junior netball players.

Netball Taranaki general manager Jaqua Pori-Makea-Simpson says of the 250 netballs given away, 58 were given away to Stratford and Eltham.

"Balls were provided to junior athletes as far north as Urenui and south as Waverley."

Kaylee Smith, 11, received one of the balls. She says she was excited to receive a new netball.

"I will be able to train for when netball starts up again. I'm so grateful for my new ball."

Netball Taranaki games administrator Pia Bailey-Nowell says the organisation has been receiving images and seeing social media posts of people with their new balls.

"Knowing the kids were jumping up and down from inside their houses when their new netball was delivered has been really rewarding.

"It's awesome for us to give a little bit of happiness and hope it helped in some small way."

Jaqua says Netball Taranaki is posting daily activities for the junior players on their Facebook page.

"It occurred to us that not everyone has a netball and no matter how innovative they were at finding substitutes, nothing compares to a ball.

"We saw this as an opportunity to invest in equipment to help keep the kids active, practicing netball skills and have a bit of fun during lockdown."