Netballers face adversity

INJURED LIST: Whanganui GK Catherine Nauga joined the injured list with a suspected broken ankle during this victorious match against North Otago at the National U17 Netball Champs in Rangiora.

The Whanganui under-17 netball team has flown in the face of adversity and met several serious challenges with aplomb at the National U17 Age Group Tournament in Rangiora

Coach Parekura Muraahi said her girls had risen above the challenges and knuckled down to the tasks at hand with an air of positivity.

"Sadly, within hours of arriving on Sunday, and just as the team were finishing a light training run, we received word that the brother of our primary care person Janine Plumridge, and uncle of mid-courter Kerwyn Morgan passed away suddenly," Muraahi said yesterday.

"I've just come from dropping Janine off at the airport to fly home to be with family where there were more than a few tears shed in an emotional departure with her daughter Kerwyn having courageously decided to stay a bit longer, but will miss the final day of tournament to fly home for the funeral on Thursday."

Adding to their woes, four of the team - Kerwyn Morgan, Nga Wairua Gardiner, Lisa Lin and Shannah Andrews have all been battling illness prior to and on arrival at tournament.

"Nga Wairua was unable to leave the motel on Monday for the first day of competition she was so unwell. But these are just the challenges we face in sport. The girls did a phenomenal job of re-focusing on the task at hand."

The Whanganui girls went out and won their opening game on Monday morning against Bay of Plenty 38-33 and then accounted for North Otago that afternoon 42-32.
Just to rub salt into the wounds goal keep Catherine Nauga went down injured in the game against North Otago.

"She has a suspected broken leg. She landed on a player's foot and rolled her ankle in this game against North Otago."

During those games Muraahi challenged her girls to draw on inspiration from other sporting codes.

"I urged the team to assimilate the explosion of sprinters coming out of the starting blocks to stun the opposition," Muraahi said.

"We often have no prior knowledge of the teams we come up against at nationals and in your opening game there are no previous game results to draw any conclusions or comparisons to, so strong starts are essential.

"This was our goal but we didn't quite nail it in the first quarter with nerves and handling errors (8 in total) seeing the team trailing 7-9 at the first break. A quick re-focus on the game plan at the break saw the team reduce their handling errors by 75 percent

"This turned a two goal deficit into an 8 goal lead at half-time leading 21-13. Changes in the third quarter took time to settle, but the girls held on to their lead 29-25 and eventually won the game 38-35.

In the second game against North Otago the team got the start they were gunning for, exploding out of the blocks with 7 from 8 of their centre passes and 6 from 7 turnovers producing a 14-6 lead.

"They extended the lead to 28-13 by half-time. The injury to Catherine Nauga in the second half unsettled the team, but they held on to a 10 goal lead and win 42-32.

Muraahi said the reduced squad was really up against it yesterday going up against the top two teams in Pool F.

"We faced Manawatu first and Hamilton in the afternoon. These are the top two in our grade and with four sick and one injured that only left me five match fit players, but they were determined as," Muraahi said.

Determination, however, was simply not enough against Manawatu with the Whanganui girls producing a shocker and going down 55-11.

Muraahi said she gathered the team to re-focus on how best to cope with Hamilton in the afternoon session where an upset victory would place Whanganui in the top 16.

It was not to be, though after Hamilton delivered yet another body blow with a 51-14 beating.