Ninety-fifth Annual Report 2019 We live this game. Contents 5 .......... Board Chair and Chief Executive Report 52 ....... Netball Super Club 12 ....... Key Statistics 54 ....... Queen’s Birthday Honours 13 ....... Netball New Zealand Board and Staff 55 ....... Domestic Events Fuji Xerox NZ Secondary 14 ....... President’s Report Schools Netball Champs ....... Tania Dalton Foundation 16 Netball NZ U19 Champs 18 ....... The Zones brought to you by NZ Police Netball Northern Netball NZ U17 Champs Netball Waikato Bay of Plenty ....... Community Netball Central 60 Netball Mainland 68 ....... Pacific Sporting Partnership Netball South 70 ....... 2019 New Zealand Netball Awards 24 ....... Commercial 72 ....... Monica Leggat 28 ....... Silver Ferns 74 ....... Life Members PURE Joy 1979 Silver Ferns Reunion 75 ....... Service Awards 38 ....... National Squads and Teams 78 ....... Whole of Netball Plan 40 ....... Events Overview 82 ....... The Netball System 44 ....... ANZ Premiership 84 ....... Financials 50 ....... Beko Netball League Photography: Michael Bradley Photography, mbphoto.co.nz 95th Annual Report and Financial Statements for the 12 months 1 December 2018 to 30 November 2019. The Annual Report and these Financial Statements will be presented to the 93rd Council Meeting of Netball New Zealand to be held in Christchurch on Saturday 22 February 2020. Netball New Zealand Annual Report 2019 3 We live this game. Jennie Wyllie (left), Netball NZ Chief Executive, and Allison Ferguson (right), Netball NZ Board Chair, at the 2019 New Zealand Netball Awards Netball New Zealand Annual Report 2019 5 With the Netball World Cup taking place, 2019 was a pinnacle The year 2019 proved to be event year, which was underpinned by a number of key changes culminating in a massive shift for the sport. On the a defining one for Netball, back of some tough times, brave decisions were made and Netball emerged in strong shape, spirit and heart from an with change at the centre, inspiring, eventful and action-packed 12 months. providing an afterglow of The Silver Ferns rode a growing wave of support during their campaign to the Netball World Cup title, moving from fourth positivity across the Netball to second in the world rankings in the process. Interest in the ANZ Premiership grew to new levels, Netball continued to flourish at community level and new initiatives were community. introduced that focused on youth/rangatahi. All aspects of the game hit new marks with community and grassroots levels maintaining the strong foundation for future success alongside the indomitable spirit and support delivered by the wider Netball community. We live this game. Grow Netball New Zealand was delighted to celebrate and acknowledge the enormous contribution made by its loyal and dedicated volunteers this year. They are an intrinsic part of the Netballing landscape and are key contributors to ensuring the game runs smoothly at all levels. Five recipients from the Netball community were acknowledged at the NZ Netball Awards. In partnership with Cadbury, we have launched our Volunteer Strategy 2020–2022. This strategy acknowledges that our sport drives off the back of volunteers within New Zealand in so many different places. Our volunteers are a vital part of our game, and it’s fantastic to be able to implement tools to recognise their value. With support from Cadbury, over 500,000 bars of chocolate were distributed to Netball Centres during 2019 as a small acknowledgement of the countless hours of work volunteers put in behind the scenes. The Youth Strategy remained a key focus in 2019, with Netball at the forefront of engaging with youth in their community, the emphasis being on how they want to be engaged with. A raft of initiatives is being piloted, all centred on providing relevant opportunities for youth to participate in our game. NNZ was successful in the Sport New Zealand funding round for the Women and Girls initiative, which looks at opportunities that accelerate participation of youth. The funding has been secured for the FAST5 version of this initiative which will be Centre-based and aimed at 12 to 18-year-olds. We were really pleased to see Netball’s leadership in this space being recognised, with NNZ being selected with just a few other National Sports Organisations (NSOs). We will continue to have a focus on the areas that Netball thinks are a priority as well. Netball joined the Halberg Games this year, thanks to an enterprising initiative undertaken by Auckland Netball. The Halberg Games is an annual three-day sports competition open to 8 to 21-year-olds who have a physical or visual impairment. The Games, hosted by the Halberg Foundation, provide the opportunity for athletes to have fun, enjoy some competition and make new friends. With further developments in the pipeline for participants with physical or visual impairments, we would like to acknowledge Auckland Netball for making this come to life. Netball New Zealand Annual Report 2019 7 Our Mother Earth futureFERNS programme continues to COMMUNITY provide a strong base for a first positive touch of Netball. It’s In respect to community, 2019 has been an equally heartening to see such a good uptake from boys and girls in productive year. One of the most significant factors was a this space, and it remains a real foundation-setting piece for review of our competition structure, based on feedback from our sport. our members at Council, for the 2020 year. NetballSmart, supported by ACC, is an area that has gone After listening to our community and noting its changing from strength to strength. Globally, we are leading the way in demographic, NNZ will implement two new tournaments integrating our injury prevention tools into the way Netball is in 2020: Netball NZ Open Champs and a Netball NZ U18 delivered by coaches and volunteers. Champs. These will replace the U19 and U17 national Led by NetballSmart Programmes Manager Sharon Kearney, tournaments and offer more opportunity for players at the there has been a strong emphasis on studying all aspects of competitive level. Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries. This has highlighted Sport NZ has partnered with the five highest-participation the prevalence of ACL injuries in women playing Netball, from NSOs to launch the Balance is Better initiative, which the elite level right down into the teenage space. focuses on ensuring young people are given a positive Through Sharon’s expertise, Netball is focusing on proven experience in sport. prevention strategies which are playing a leading role in reducing the incidence of this type of injury. Recent data It is the first time all of these revealed a 13 percent decrease in ACC-recorded ACL Netball related injuries between 2016–2019. sports (Netball, rugby, cricket, football, hockey) have got We are delighted that through 2019, Netball remained the number-one sport at secondary school level across all codes. together and formulated a common vision of intent. The Voice of the Participant survey measures the ‘sentiment of experience’ at local level Centres, and we’ve seen improvement in results, which is fantastic. This has been achieved through focusing on areas that we can impact and shows our willingness to understand how people want to engage with us at a Centre level. Our results are encouraging and show some strong movement in alignment across the system. Launched in 2017, the Pacific Sporting Partnership (PSP), a joint NNZ and New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) initiative, continues to make a significant impact. The five-year programme partners with Netball associations and schools in Fiji, the Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga, with the aim of increasing the participation of young people in Netball while also raising awareness of healthy lifestyles. It has been rewarding for us to be able to support this programme with leading figures from our Netball community, such as Waimarama Taumaunu, Jodi Brown, Irene van Dyk and Maria Folau, adding their expertise to help deliver and support this project to the ever-growing number of Netball players in the Pacific. We live this game. In celebrating the first-ever televised games between Connect women’s and men’s national teams, the brave decision set the There were encouraging signs in 2019 of Netball’s rising brand tone in a defining moment for the sport. It highlighted what identity when the brand equity results were released just prior the men and their association bring to the table with their to the Netball World Cup (as shown here): support of the Silver Ferns and their willingness to pitch in and help with their preparations ahead of the Netball World Cup. NNZ: 65% (increase from 16%) These games provided an amazing spectacle for our fans. Netball: 43% (increase from 19%) With considerable skill and athleticism, the men challenged the Silver Ferns and through this, instilled a belief in the Silver ANZ Premiership: 31% Ferns that they could jump higher, run faster and be stronger (increase from 14%) athletes, while showcasing the inclusive nature of Netball as a game for everyone. With many of those involved in the men’s game attending the end-of-season New Zealand Netball Awards, it was fantastic There was no fear about the end result, the Silver Ferns to see that the bonds and closeness forged during the New rounding out their preparation with the most ideal of Zealand Men’s Invitational team’s historic participation in the opponents; the men providing the perfect stage to absorb and Cadbury Netball Series have remained tight. Their willingness adjust to situations that were likely to surface at the Netball to be involved and help in whatever capacity, and their overall World Cup. We would like to acknowledge the significant contribution to our sport, is hugely appreciated. contribution of the NZ Men’s Invitational team for the part they played in this ground-breaking initiative.