Whanganui netballer selected for Samoa squad in Australian international series

Whanganui Collegiate School residential master Kara Adrole has been selected in the Samoa netball team for an international tournament in Australia. Photo / Supplied

Whanganui netballer Kara Adrole has been selected to play for Samoa in an international series in Australia.

Adrole, 19, and the Samoa team will play in the PacificAus Sports Netball Series at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) Stadium in Queensland, Australia, in October.

The series is a tournament to showcase the skills, talent and athleticism of Pacific netballers, with teams from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Samoa taking part, as well as USC and Australia pathway teams.

In 2020, Adrole was among 50 players invited to attend Netball New Zealand's National Development Camp, where the athletes were coached by former Silver Ferns Irene van Dyk, Jo Morrison, Temepara Bailey, Sandra Edge and Anna Galvan.

Adrole said she was excited and happy about the opportunity to take part in the tournament, but she was surprised to have been selected for the team.

"I just wasn't expecting it."

Adrole has been playing netball since she was in year four in primary school, as a goalkeeper, in goal defence and as a goal shoot.

Initially she played rugby, like the rest of her family members, before getting into netball.

"In year four I just decided to play netball because my best friend was playing netball."

Currently, as well as playing, Adrole works at Whanganui Collegiate School as the residential master of Godwin House.

She said she would treat the tournament as a learning experience.

"I'm just really excited to be playing alongside some amazing players so I'm just hoping to get some more knowledge of the game, and just to create more opportunities for myself in netball," she said.

The tournament is scheduled to take place on October 16-21.