Netball Northern Zone Map CONTENTS

From the Chair and CEO 4 Commercial Partners 6 Community Netball 7 Performance 13 SKYCITY Mystics 16 Results Northern Zone 20 Financials 21 From the CEO & Chair

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 2015 Annual Report of the Netball Northern Zone. It has been another satisfying year with progress being shown in all aspects of the work we are involved in, from ANZ FutureFerns through to high performance (SKYCITY Mystics) . Netball New Zealand and the five Zones continued to refine our organization’s role and purpose throughout the year. We all have a very high commitment to alignment with the national Whole of Netball plan and linking closely with Netball NZ’s strategies. Targets were set by Netball New Zealand in consultation with each of the zones and focused largely on increasing player participation as well as coach and umpire numbers. We were successful in some areas, but also recognized that targets in some other areas were not realistic, so were able to review these number for the 2016 season. The CEO’s of the Zone and Netball New Zealand continue to have regular meetings as do the Community and Performance team nationally. National Chair meetings are also held twice per annum, usually alongside the CEO meeting. It was a good outcome for the Coach Development role to transition from Netball New Zealand into the Zones earlier this year. We now have very clear lines of accountability for outcomes in this area and we were fortunate to be able to secure Tania Heap with such a wealth of experience in coach development. We are sure to see even better results in 2016 with Tania having the benefit of a full year to work within, but also having built strong relationships with all of the centres across the zone throughout 2015. Umpire development has also been a real strength within our zone also and so it was with disappointment but also understanding that we accepted Jan Skilton’s resignation at the end of 2015. Jan will continue to work on a part-time basis until March 2016. It was once again a lovely occasion to watch the Netball NZ Service award recipients at the National AGM in February — congratulations to Therese Dixon, Rayna Gunson and Aileen Mason. Therese also won the New World volunteer of the Year award, again well deserved. Congratulations also goes to Auckland Netball Centre for winning the National U17 tournament, Netball North Harbour won the National U19 tournament and the Netball Northern Zone won the National U23 tournament— very strong results for our Zone, and bodes very well for the future of the players coming from our zone. This was the final year for the U23 tournament and Lion Foundation, both to be replaced by the Beko National League. The League is a very important step required to start preparing our athletes for a higher level of competition, and a considerable amount of planning has happened to get this League underway for 2016. Financial and time pressure has been placed on everyone involved to ensure it’s success, but all involved agreed it was necessary to implement it in 2016. 2015 has seen the establishment of the Regional Netball Facilities working group, and progress has been made on prioritizing the greatest areas of need for council funding support to enable growth of our sport. Facilities are also high on the agenda for the Auckland Sport Coalition which Julie was appointed to this year, as well as being appointed to the Northland Sport Coalition. Both of these groups are primarily

4 advocacy groups focusing on representing sport’s voice in the Council’s Unitary and other plans, as well as other Auckland or Northland-wide sporting issues. It is important that netball is represented in both groups. Julie was also fortunate to be selected to attend a five week programme in America run by the US State De- partment, focusing on developing women leaders in sport. She has returned refreshed and with a strategy in mind to work together with other like-minded people to advocate for an increase in the profile and balance of women both participating and administering sport. The SKYCITY Mystics continue to improve in performance both on and off the court, moving from 7th place in 2014 to a credible fourth in 2015. 2015 was also the first year the Mystics have completed the round-robin series unbeaten against all NZ teams. With SKYCITY announcing their principle sponsorship in February, financial pressure was eased and the players and management team were fortunate to be hosted by SKYCITY prior to each of our home games, so our ability to team-build and prepare consistently for all games also increased. Our continued thanks go to Debbie Fuller, Head Coach and Noeline Taurua, specialist coach for the 2015 season. Thanks also to the management team of Chris Tennant, Sharon Choie and Sam Purvin—all who put in many many hours to support our team. There are a number of additional support staff who also work tireless- ly to ensure the best support is provided for the team. We do however continue to find it extremely difficult to find businesses who are prepared to step away from traditional sponsorship support, even with a business proposition as strong as we have in netball with broad- cast opportunities as well as a massive participation base and audience. Our continued thanks go to Barfoot and Thompson for another fantastic year supporting our team. Thanks also to new sponsors Vitasport, and Crowe Horwath, as well as The Hits, West City Holden, The Trusts and the Trusts Arena, Auckland Council, and Benefitz as well as our many player sponsors and match day sponsors. We have also had very generous support from Gaming Trusts and thanks go to the NZ Community Trust, The Trusts Charitable Foundation, Lion Foundation, North and South Trust, Infinity Foundation and Southern Trust. We have also established strong working relationships with the various RSTs in our Zone. We would also like to thank the staff of the Netball Northern Zone - all dedicated, hardworking and very committed people. Special welcome to Tia Winikerei who began her role as Community Netball Manager and has transitioned very well into her role. We welcomed back Tania Heap. We said goodbye to Jill Clapcott who re- signed from her role at the Zone as event and finance manager to take on other netball managerial roles, and also a semi-goodbye to Anne Nicholson at the end of her fixed term contract. Anne has now been contracted back to assist in the roll-out of the Year 5-6 pilot. Thanks also to our board - again dedicated and committed people who really work hard for the best for netball in our Zone. Special thanks to everyone for your on-going support and knowledge and understanding of the role of the Zone in our delivery system. We welcomed Diana Puketapu and Lynette Gubb who both joined the board early in 2015 and have both been strong contributors to our board. Finally our greatest thanks goes to the 17 Netball Centres in our Zone— without whom none of the above would be possible. The connection, communication and understanding we have with the centres continues to grow every year and we look forward to another year of working with you all. We wish you all the best for the upcoming season. Julie Paterson, CEO and Dianne McAteer, Chair

5 Commercial Partners

Principal Sponsor

Major Sponsors

Associate Sponsors Supporting sponsors Player sponsors

Community Partners

6 Community Netball

As the Community Team reflect on 2015, we can confidently say that we have made good progress with the implementation of Netball New Zealand’s and our own Zone Community Netball Strategy. We welcomed Tia Winikerei as the new Community Netball Manager and Tania Heap as the first Zone Coach Development Officer. We said farewell to Anne Nicholson as our full-time Junior Development Officer when we were unsuccessful in obtaining further Kiwisport funding to continue with this role, alt- hough we have managed to retain Anne’s expertise in a part–time capacity for 2016 and Anne will lead the ANZ futureFERNs Year 5 (6v6 game format) pilot. In March we say goodbye to our Umpire Development Officer, Jan Skilton. Jan has contributed to Netball in numerous ways over many years, leading umpire development in the Zone since 2013. Jan’s dedication and love for Netball is second to none. She will be sadly missed. Thank you to all Northern Zone Netball Centres and satellite playing venues for your enthusiasm, comittment and support for the work the Community Team do. Centre Forum The Zone Centre Forum was held in September at the Sky City Convention Centre. All Northern Zone netball centres were represented during the two-day conference. This is an important meeting as it enables us to discuss and share information relevant to the delivery of Netball. It also allows us to celebrate our Netball successes as a Zone. NNZ communicated their new brand messaging of “We live this Game’”, provided an update on the development of the High Performance Strategy, and noted the key successes of the implementation of ANZ futureFERNs and Coach Development in our Zone. We were also very fortunate to have two guest speakers: Sponsorship and Marketing specialist Jane Bennett from Hansells Food Group and Dr Craig Harrison, Director of Athlete Development AUT Millennium. Jane delivered a presentation on marketing and sponsorship from the viewpoint of the customer. She touched on the necessities of getting an insight to your customer, what to look for when reviewing your sponsorship opportunities, the importance of knowing your competition and understanding and valuing your product. She also showed how the ‘Bullseye' model works in practice. Craig spoke on “What matters most in Youth Sport”. The quote he shared “An athlete must first be immersed in the fundamentals to have any potential to reach a high level of skill” compliments the philosophy behind the ANZ fu- tureFERNs programme, in that, it is player centred and age appropriate to ensure Netball provides a positive environment for every young player to reach their potential. The feedback following the Centre Forum was positive and well received. Furthermore, the sense of uni- ty and willingness for collaboration was evident. Our ability as a Zone to continue to deliver quality netball experiences at all levels is bright. 7 ANZ futureFERNs ANZ futureFERNS was announced, with ANZ claiming the naming rights for Netball New Zealand’s Junior Netball programme - which includes all grades from Years 1 – 8. In 2015: 20892 Year 1 – 8 children played netball at Northern Zone affiliated Netball Centres; and 700 people attended ANZ future FERNs coaching workshops. The junior membership breakdown is as follows:

 6172 Years 1-4 (+11%)

 7750 Year 5-6 (-12%)

 6970 Year 7-8 (-10%) ANZ futureFERNS Year 1 & 2 was offered by all Netball Centres and satellites. The Year 3-4 game was also, either consolidated or introduced in 15 Netball Centres and four satellites. Northern Wairoa introduced ANZ futureFERNs to children from Ruawai school; and the Far North community of Moerewa took hold of junior netball at the end of the year. Both these opportunities provided children who were previously una- ble to play netball access to our game in their local communities. Thank you to Netball Rodney, Hibiscus Coast and AMI Auckland Netball for encouraging some of their community to participate in an ANZ futureFERNs year 5-6 pilot, in the latter part of the year. Children and parents from these three netball centres had an opportunity to play and provide feedback for a proposed new 6v6 game format, for these Year 5-6 playing membership. The data NNZ collated has provided enough evi- dence to justify a greater pilot, involving Year 5 players in 2016. The 2016 pilot will be conducted across New Zealand and a bigger sample of data will be gathered and analysed. This will enable NNZ to determine whether or not a change to the playing format for Year 5-6 players is necessary. The inaugural Zone ANZ futureFERNs Festival Day was held at Netball Waitakere. This free event was booked out with 200 children registered, however not all turned up on the day. The day was full of activities and games and all participants met the NNZ Ambassador, Irene van Dyke and SKYCITY Mystics Player, Cathrine Latu.

8 Other examples of how we have exposed ANZ futureFERNs to the wider community are through:  ‘Have-a-Go’ taster days and festival tournaments.  ‘Girls Only Day’ at Kolmar Sport Centre in Papatoetoe: We showcased the ANZ futureFERNs 6v6 game format to Year 5-8 girls and Skycity Mystics Players Nadia Loveday and Kayla Cullen turned out to coach.  Northern Wairoa Primary Schools finished their Active in Schools Program with a Netball Fun day held at Dargaville High School. Over 150 children took part, with teachers, parents and principals coaching the teams. Supported by Sport Northland and the Zone, the Northern Wairoa Leadership Group umpired, managed the draw and helped run the day. Coaching It was a very successful year for coaching. With the commencement of our very own Coach Development Officer and the support of the Junior Development Officer we were able to lead and progress the professional development of 1692 coaches, at all levels. Tania led community coaching and Anne drove the ANZ futureFERNs delivery. This was supported by numerous coach developers across the Zone, who worked in netball centres, schools and clubs. The following results were achieved:

Community Coach Awards 108

Developing Coach Modules 884

ANZ futureFERNs Modules 700

Total 1692

Congratulations to the many coaches who have put time aside to develop their skills and understanding of our game. It takes serious commitment to work on your own development as well as coach a team (or teams in some cases), day and night throughout the season. Well done for making this commitment and your athletes will surely benefit as you grow and reflect on your practice. With the coach developer accreditation framework being updated by NNZ, we set about observing and ac- crediting the Zone’s coach developers. The work in this field was outstanding and the Zone accredited eight coach developers in 2015. This is an ongoing professional development process for both the accredited developers and the those still working through the process. We are committed to supporting and mentoring all Zone coach developers and this task is central to the work our Coach Development Officer does. Regional Sports Trust Engagement There are six Regional Sports Trusts (RSTs) in the Northern Zone: Aktive Sport and Recreation, Counties Manukau Sport, Sport Auckland, Sport Waitakere, Harbour Sport and Sport Northland. In 2015, we received Kiwisport investment from Sport Northland, Harbour Sport and Sport New Zealand. Our partnership with Sport Northland enabled us to deliver ANZ futureFERNs to communities in Northland and the Far North. Our Northland Netball Development Officer also continues to reside alongside Sport Northland staff at their premises in Whangarei. This has facilitated the growth of a strong partnership be- tween the Zone and Sport Northland, which provides us with ongoing investment and easy access to professional development. 9 Harbour Sport aided ANZ future FERNs delivery in the Kaipara region. Sport New Zealand investment also facilitated delivery in Waitakere and Counties Manuaku. We have successfully delivered ANZ futureFERNs, Active-in-Schools programme to more than 3000 children. We have continued to work hard to build solid working relationships with Aktive, Sport Waitakere and Counties Manukau Sport. Furthering these partnerships is an important part of the netball delivery system, as it provides Netball with improved access to Kiwisport investment, professional development opportunities and wider access to the sporting and school communities. Northern Zone satellites Satellite programmes offering ANZ futureFERNs netball in Ruawai (Northern Wairoa Netball Centre) and at Moerewa (Far North) have enabled these rural communities to provide playing opportunities for junior net- ballers (and some parents who want to play socially) access to netball, that they did not previously have. The Moerewa satellite is a great example of how a small community with a great sense of whanau values and support can rally together to provide participation opportunities for their families. They had over 40 juniors attend every week, to get some quality coaching and to try the ANZ futureFERNs game. This then followed with the children watching their Mums, Dads, Aunties and Uncles play in a social program—really solidifying the full whanau experience. Congratulations Moerewa! We look forward to you continuing with your programme once your courts are refurbished and ready for action again in late 2016. Otara Scorpions continue to build on their satellite model which offers netball for all age-groups in the local Otara community. Thank you to Howick Pakuranga Netball Centre who continue to support their development. In 2015 Otara registered 54 teams; and for the first time entered an U/15 team at National tournament. Netball Northern Zone Leadership Project The Leadership Project seeks to enhance community cohesion through leadership development and utilises Sport as a vehicle to grow and nurture young leaders. With input from various netball centres we reviewed and redesigned the programme at the end of 2015. The purpose is to inspire and train young leaders through their involvement in sport ensuring these skills are transferable in other community activities and life. A particular focus is to support the growth and delivery of netball in local communities. Foundation North (FN) investment has enabled us to invite two Counties Manukau Netball Centres (Papakura and Manurewa) into what has previously only been available in the North. Furthermore, with both FN and Oxford Trust investment in Northland and the Far North, Mangonui is able to re-establish their programme, while Kerikeri, Rodney, Hibiscus Coast and Northern Wairoa can offer more opportunities to their graduating students as well as new recruits. The Zone would like to acknowledge Foundation North and the Oxford Trust for their support in making it possible for us to grow this project. We further acknowledge the fantastic work of all the volunteers in these netball centres who take the time to grow and develop our Netball Youth. Tournaments Oldfield Shield Challenge Rodney Netball Centre hosted its annual Oldfield Shield Challenge – a tradition that’s been going for over 20 years! Hibiscus Coast, Kaipara, Northern Wairoa and Rodney fielded teams from Year 7-Seniors. 2015 Winners were Northern Wairoa.

Pacific Cup Tournament—The Collaboration of United Indigenous People Auckland Netball Centre hosted the Pacific Cup Tournament where players from our Zone gathered to compete against some of the most tenacious Pacific nations representatives we have on offer. Tonga, Cook Islands, Samoa, Niue and Maori were well represented in all grades; which included: U/11,U/13,U/15,U/17, Seniors and Mixed. This tournament provides an opportunity for people to come together to acknowledge and celebrate their ancestral links and culture, together as one. Kerikeri Representative Tournament Kerikeri Netball Centre held their inaugural representative tournament which catered for the following age-groups: Year 7, 8 & 9, U/15s and U/17s. This is a very important development for the Far North as these representative teams are not always able to enter at National events. It means these players have another representative fixture on their calendar and with teams from Mangonui, Kerikeri, Bay of Islands, Whangarei, Northern Wairoa and Hibiscus Coast participating in 2015, it is hoped more netball centres will travel North in 2016.

Tertiary Partnerships—Te Wananga o Aotearoa and Unitech We have worked with the sports departments at: Te Wananga o Aotearoa, (West Auckland), and Unitech, (Carrington), to deliver NNZ coaching modules and coach observation and mentoring to their 1st and 2nd Year students. The focus of this work is to grow Netball delivery capability amongst tertiary coaches who can then support Netball Centres, clubs and schools with quality netball delivery.

Bench Officials Angela Newton, along with Sue Miller and Judith Downer have joined together to coordinate and organise training and accreditation for Bench Offi- cials in our Zone. The Zone wishes to thank these women for their voluntary contribution to the development of this discipline. We are committed to furthering the recruitment and development for Bench Officiating in the Northern Zone and this would not be possible without the support we get from these wonderful volunteers. NNZ Service Award Holders 2015 At the 2015 NNZ Council Meeting held in Christchurch our Zone recognised three outstanding servants of Netball with a NNZ Service Award.

 Therese Dixon—Papakura

 Rayna Gunson—Whangarei

 Aileen Mason—Waitakere

NNZ New World Volunteer Awards Therese Dixon was also the deserving recipient of the New World Volunteer of the Year—Official, at the inaugural NZ Netball awards. Congratulations Therese, on your impressive 56 year contribution to Net- ball. Well done Papakura, Whangarei and Waitakere for continuing to recognise the important contributions made by Netball’s long serving volunteers.

11 Northern Zone 2015 player membership

2014 2015 %

Year 1 & 2 2033 1682 -17%

Year 3 & 4 3455 4490 30%

Year 5 & 6 8820 7750 -12%

Year 7 & 8 7760 6970 -10%

Junior Totals 22068 20892 -5%

Secondary 10380 10830 4%

Senior 6390 6050 -5%

Social 8090 10910 35%

Total 46928 48682 4%

Umpiring

It was yet another very successful year for umpiring. Halberg Awards In February we were very proud to have Dawn Jones OBE acknowledged by The Hal- berg Trust for her services to umpiring. As one of New Zealand’s longest serving umpires and administrators she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Halberg Awards in Auckland. Dawn has fostered a lifelong interest in Netball and has been involved at both a national and international level for more than five dec- ades. She is one of the most decorated New Zealand has ever produced. World Netball Championships (WNC) : Yvonne Morgan IUA We were also very proud to have Yvonne Morgan IUA, Netball North Harbour (NNH) selected to officiate at the WNC which were held in Sydney. This was Yvonne’s last appearance as an International Umpire as she announced her retirement from elite umpiring in October. Shear guts and determination is how one could sum up her umpiring career. She has umpired at National level since 2001 when she was appointed to her first NZAG championship and the NZSS Championship. From that point on, her career continued to escalate with selection to National Squads resulting inap- pointments to National Championships, Trans Tasman Secondary Schools Champs , National Bank Cup, ANZ Champs, Pacific Cup Series, First World University Games and South Africa v Northern Ireland test series. She gained her International Umpire award in 2013 and was subsequently appointed to Australia v England test series, World Youth Champs, Fast Five series and the Commonwealth Games, culminating this year with the Netball World Champs in Sydney.

Yvonne has also given many hours back to the umpiring communities of North Harbour and Northern Wairoa. She has consistently umpired North Harbour’s premier competition, has been on the NZ Coaching Panel for many years and taken the NZ theory classes. She will continue to be a wonderful role model for all our up-and-coming umpires who are progressing through the umpire pathway.

Retirement : Fay Meiklejohn– IUA Dedication, commitment and sacrifice is how one would describe the umpiring career of Fay Meiklejohn (NNH), who has made the very hard decision to retire from ANZ and International Umpiring. After gaining her NZ Award in 2004, Fay was appointed to the NZAG and National Bank Cup Championships for the next 3 years . Her career continued to accelerate with national appointments to the Trans Tasman Championships and the NZ National Championships where she consistently umpired the final. Fay has been an ANZ Umpire for the last 7 consecutive years.

She was fortunate to gain a Prime Minister Scholarship in 2010 which enabled her to travel to England to take part in their Summer league. It was here that she gained her International Umpire Award which was subsequently endorsed in 2015. 13 Internationally she has been appointed to the South Pacific Games, World Youth Championships, Pacific Cup Series, Samoa v South Africa series, Australia v England , Samoa v Scotland, Fast Five series and the World Netball Championships in Singapore in 2011.

Fay has also found time to be on the NZ coaching panel at NNH assisting with the coaching of umpires, writing theory modules and exam papers and facilitating workshops.

The Netball Northern Zone would like to thank Yvonne and Fay for the professional manner in which they have represented us over many years at the elite level. We are very fortunate that they will still be part of our umpiring community, assisting with workshops, coaching and assessing, and working with the Zone Umpire Performance Squad.

NZUDG : Raewyn Ronaldson, Jan Skilton, Debbie Shoebridge and Elaine Curtis have continued their work as members of this group, appointed by NNZ. They continued to support Netball Centres and umpires, with their umpiring programmes and increased development under the NNZ guidelines, at all levels. 2015 was the third year of the new coach/assessor format from NNZ and the increase in interest resulted in these ladies running seven workshops at the various levels. Eleanor Kitching and Leah Lazarus have also assisted as facilitators. The Zone now has 128 coaches accredited in this programme. The breakdown of these coach/assessors at the different levels is as follows : NZ Coach/Assessors : 23 Zone Coach/Assessors : 32 Centre Coach/Assessors: 73 It is also excellent to see that a further 43 have applied to be appointed in 2016. ZUDG : This Umpire Development Group continued to work hard in 2015 and were responsible for assisting the following centres: Eleanor Kitching – Waiuku and Pukekohe Therese Dixon – Papakura, and Mangere Otahuhu Raewyn Ronaldson - Manurewa Debbie Shoebridge – Howick Pakuranga Elaine Curtis – ANC and Waitakere Raewyn Vile and Fay Meiklejohn – NNH Jan Skilton – Rodney, HBC and Kaipara

Sharon Fraser – Whangarei and Northern Wairoa Leah Lazarus – Kerikeri, BOINC and Mangonui With the guidance and assistance from the NZUDG and ZUDG, the umpire coordinators in each Centre did a brilliant job encouraging and increasing progress at all levels. This was particularly evident at the lower levels where participation and guidance to continue on the umpire pathway has been the main focus.

14 At most 2015 representative tournaments there was an umpire coaching panel present. This panel worked alongside netball centres with assessments and this has contributed to the following results:

Test Bank Theory: 860, Junior Award : 130, Centre Award : 113, Zone Theory : 58, Zone Award : 42, NZ Theory : 32, NZ C Award : 8, NZ A Endorsement : 1.

UNISS This tournament was hosted by the WBOP Zone. Over 120 umpires were required to cover all games for the week and it was great to see so many younger umpires participating. Excellent coaching was available from the Coach/Assessor Panels with Debbie Shoebridge, Angela Newton, Leah Lazarus and Jan Skilton assisting the WBOP coaches for the week.

National Under 17 Tournament The Northern Zone had 14 umpires at this tournament which provided a wonderful opportunity for them to experience tournament conditions at this level. These umpires are the result of the great development which is being achieved within the netball centres.

High Performance Umpires National Squads ANZ Squad : Yvonne Morgan and Fay Meiklejohn National A Squad : Tania Law – endorsed NZA award National Development Squad : Tanya McCarthy & Cory Nicholls Emerging Talent Squad : Matthew Davis, Lisa Stallard & Zak Middleton Netball Northern Zone Performance Squad : Tania Law, Tanya McCarthy, Lisa Stallard, Cory Nicholls, Zak Middleton, Rebecca Jeans, Christina Matthews and Matthew Davis National Tournaments The following umpires were selected from our Zone to officiate at the following tournaments: NZAGC – Glendon Carter, Tanya McCarthy, Matt Davis, Cory Nicholls, Zak Middleton, Lisa Stallard, Kalesi Tabete, Tania Law, Megan Lock- wood and Christina Matthews NZSS – Shaz Papesch LFNC – Tanya McCarthy , Cory Nicholls, Zak Middleton, Kalesi Tabete International Appointments Yvonne Morgan – World Netball Championships - Sydney Tania Law – Pre WNC matches in Sydney All 17 Netball Centres have continued to make sound progress with the development of their umpire programmes. This along with the increased numbers of umpire coaches has resulted in some excellent results for 2015.

15 Performance

Netball Northern Zone had a fantastic year in 2015 with teams, coaches and umpires performing well across the netball landscape both nationally and internationally. The year saw the introduction of some new initiatives (coach & umpire) and also the development of some exciting new developments for 2016. 2015 kicked off with the inaugural Netball Northern Zone Per- formance Coach programme which aimed to connect our Per- formance coaches in our netball centres and create a hub of coaches working in the performance environment so as to en- courage sharing of best practice and also to add value to our coach’s development. We were extremely fortunate to have Noeline Taurua as our coach mentor for this programme. The programme targeted three key areas; Leadership, Values Based Coaching and Team Culture. The positive impact of the programme was enhanced greatly by having Sue Emerson and her Sport team from Unitec delivering the workshops—they are all highly experienced and knowledgeable people who are passionate about developing people, so it was fantastic to have them involved. The coaches were also able to work with young aspiring athletes at the NZ Secondary Schools Talent Selection weekend held at Netball North Harbour in February. In small groups they exposed toa week’s full immersion in the SKYCITY Mystics programme which gave them insights into how a High Performance environment is run. The programme was a huge success and will continue with a new group of coaches in 2016.

The Netball NZ National tournaments are always a highlight on the NZ netball calendar and this year teams from the Northern Zone once again demonstrated their dominance with Northern Zone teams taking out the national tournaments at all three age groups-

 National U17’s- Auckland Netball Centre  National U19’s- Netball North Harbour  National U23’s- Netball Northern Zone Further to the dominance of three teams winning the National Tournaments we had three teams finish in the top five at National U17’s with Netball Waitakere and Netball North Harbour 2 finishing off a great tournament week in Mt Maunganui. There were other positive results from our U17 teams with Whangarei Netball Centre being the biggest mover from their 32nd place finish in 2014 to finish 14th in 2015.

16 At the National U19 tournament Netball North Harbour overcame a strong Dunedin Netball Centre team to take out the National title. North Harbour performed strongly throughout the week as did a number of other centre teams from the Northern Zone. There were six Northern Zone teams in the top 8 finishers which is an incredible effort from all involved, those teams are highlighted below- 1. Netball North Harbour 2. Dunedin 3. Netball Waitakere 4. Wellington 5. Auckland Netball Centre 6. Pukekohe Netball Centre 7. Christchurch 8. Papakura Netball Centre Of those six teams the biggest mover was Netball Waitakere U19’s who finished 17th in 2013, 9th in 2014, and 3rd in 2015, so a big congratulations to Netball Waitakere and the work the coaches and management have been doing to develop their athletes over the last few years. The U23 National Tournament is always a hotly contested tournament with a number of ANZC players joining their respective Zone teams to compete for the National title and this year Netball North- ern U23’s competed to take out the National Tournament. Over the past few years Netball Northern has finished mid-table but this year the team was determined to push for their first win. The squad had two SKYCITY Mystics players, Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick and Nadia Loveday who brought huge experience and leadership to the squad. At the other end of the spectrum two schoolgirls were selected in the squad Holly Fowler and Maia Wilson, two youngsters from Mt Albert Grammar School. Both Holly and Maia are extremely talented players and were both worthy selections in a strong squad, so much so that both were selected in the U23 National Tournament team along with Sulu Tone Fitzpatrick and Tera-Maria Amani, all four players played outstanding netball throughout the tournament.

17 There were a number of athletes, coaches, umpires and college teams who performed at a high standard during 2015 and were either recognised for their ability and talent and subsequently selected into National Teams or Squads or won important competitions, those highlights are recognised below- Silver Ferns-

 Laura Langman  Maria Tutaia  Kayla Cullen National Development Squad & NZ A

 Cathrine Latu  Temalisi Fakahokotau  Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick NZ U21 Squad Members from Netball Northern

 Eseta Autagavaia  Caitlin Dowden  Ivana Rowland  Maia Wilson  Popua Aleamotu’a  Fa’amu Ioane  Grace Kukutai  Kate Burley  Holly Fowler Michaela Sokolich-Beatson NZ Secondary Schools-

 Sydney Fraser- St Kentigern College  Amorangi Malesala- St Kentigern College  Maia Wilson- Mt Albert Grammar School  Alanis Toia-Tigafua- Mt Albert Grammar School  Caitlin Dowden- Mt Albert Grammar School  Holly Fowler- Mt Albert Grammar School

Pathway 2 Podium-

 Isarena Chan- Netball North Harbour  Caitlin Dowden- Mt Albert Grammar School  Sydney Fraser- St Kentigern College  Amorangi Malesala- St Kentigern College  Mererangi Paul- St Kentigern College  Saskia Rae-Brown- Pukekohe Netball Centre  Elle Temu- Mt Albert Grammar School  Alanis Toia-Tigafua- Mt Albert Grammar School

18 UNISS Champions- Mt Albert Grammar School Northern Zone also finished with; nine teams in the top 12 of A Grade, six in B and eight in C. NZ Secondary Schools Champions- Mt Albert Grammar School I would like to thank the Netball Northern Zone netball community for the hard work each and every person puts into the performance area of netball in our Zone. This year was an exceptional year for our Zone and our Centres with teams, athletes, schools all performing at a high standard and I have no doubt that 2016 will bring more success for all involved.

SKYCITY Mystics

The SKYCITY Mystics netball season came to an end on 14th June, when we lost our ANZ Championship semi-final against the Queensland Firebirds in Brisbane. The Firebirds, who hadn’t been beaten since round one of the competition, had too much firepower thanks to the likes of their Jamaican shooter Romelda Aitken and the Australian captain Laura Geitz. There were naturally a fair few sad faces in the team’s dressing room after the match. There were tears too, as the team came to terms with the fact that the season was over and they would no longer be together as a group. But, eventually the mood turned into one of reflection and plenty of positives could be found . For starters, this is the first season in history that the SKYCITY Mystics have gone unbeaten against Kiwi opponents throughout the regular season. Then the team’s final placing over the last three seasons has moved from tenth, to seventh in 2014, to the top four in 2015. The attention for many of the players turned to the national selection ahead of August’s World Cup in Sydney with eight of the SKYCITY Mystics team named among 30 players to trial for the Silver Ferns and New Zealand A teams. Serena Guthrie was a certainty to be in Sydney with the England national team. SKYCITY Mystics Final Results: Played: 15 Won: 7 Lost: 6 Draw: 2 Win %: 47% Goals for average: 52 Goals against average: 54.13

Awards Serena Guthrie made the most of her first season in the ANZ Championship and picked up a host of awards to reflect that. Twice during the season she won the ‘Golden Bib’, as top player from all teams in that round. She was then judged the ANZ Championship’s ‘Best New Talent’. And she followed that up by being named at WD in the Foxtel ANZ Championship All-Star team. Intercepts were a special part of Serena’s contribution. She achieved 30 throughout the season, which is easily the most of any mid-courter in the league and put her third overall, just behind Shani Layton and Laura Geitz. 20

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