July 2014 From the Chair – Paul Buckner On 14 July I attended a meeting of the zone chairpersons with the chairman of NNZ, John Bongard, NNZ board member Lee Piper and NNZ CEO Hilary Poole. The meeting provided a platform for NNZ to introduce its draft Whole of Netball (WON) plan and to address various concerns that the zones have. The WON plan is a comprehensive document and I believe it will achieve its purpose to “articulate a clear vision, purpose and values for netball as a whole” and will “define and drive the sport of netball” over the next few years. Of immediate concern to all zones is the current financial difficulties each are experiencing to varying extents and NNZ has agreed to work with the zones to address this. The meeting in Auckland coincided with a “farewell cocktail function” for the Silver Ferns who flew out that evening to Glasgow to compete in the Commonwealth Games. Our congratulations go to South Zone’s representatives in the Silver Ferns side, Jodi Brown and Shannon Francois. Our congratulations also go to the Steel team, coach Janine Southby and manager Clare Malthus who competed with pride in the ANZ championship and only narrowly missed a place in the play offs. Sue Clarke (our CEO) has almost completed signing up players for the 2015 campaign and our early expectations (no pressure!) is a play off place. On court success also went to the Ascot Park Hotel Netball South U23 side which narrowly lost the final against Waikato on 11 July in Dunedin. Congratulations also to the Dunedin U17 team which finished third in the New Zealand Championships. Next month our board welcomes Colin Weatherall as the NNZ appointed member on our board to replace Debbie Hodges. Colin brings with him a wealth of experience in sports administration and local body politics, including a long involvement with local government and being a former chairman of the Highlanders Trust which earned Colin a Queens Service medal earlier this year. We are most fortunate to attract a person of such calibre to our board. I thank all board members for their work and special thanks to Angee Shand for the assistance she has provided Sue Clarke over the last few months. With the end of the ANZ Championship our attention becomes more focused on community netball and we wish all players and participants the best for the season and thank our Centres for their commitment. Formal notice will be given shortly of a governance workshop presented by Jane Huria for the board and centre representatives in Balclutha on Saturday, 15 November. Jane is a professional “governance coach” and presents her wealth of experience in an entertaining manner. The annual Centre forum will be held in Balclutha on 12 October and a “review workshop” will be staged in August with an external facilitator, allowing the board, management, staff and players to “define, debate and decide” on a set of initiatives towards improvement for the operation of our zone. It will be an opportunity to “dream big”. Finally one matter I know is of some urgency to our Centres is our policy in respect to life membership. We continue to wait for regulations to our constitution to be distributed from NNZ and I was assured when I was in Auckland that this was a priority. As soon as those regulations are available we will determine and disseminate our own zone policy. From the CEO – Sue Clarke Who out there will be sleep deprived in the coming weeks? The 2014 Commonwealth Games have officially opened and I know that my eyes will be following closely the 238 athletes who are representing New Zealand in a variety of sports. The Silver Ferns start their journey towards the illustrious gold medal against Malawi and our netball community will be shouting our own encouragement from many couches around our zone. The game of netball teaches you early the skills required to be a team player and to support each other both on and off the court. Respect, trust, integrity and sheer grit all come into play and life time friendships are made. When the times get tough, these values come into play even more and many a team emerge stronger for facing adversity. We watch players grow and develop with the hope of one day reaching higher honours. Over the last couple of months many teams have represented their schools, clubs or our zone with pride and passion. In the lead up to these events there has also been some heartache with season-ending injuries and non selection. Facing this and, as they say, taking it on the chin is all part of an athlete‟s life and hopefully will add a dimension of resilience. These representative teams have produced some outstanding results from Year 9 through to the recently held New Zealand U19 and U23 Championships. The results from the South Island Secondary Schools Junior Netball Development Tournament held in Christchurch from 7 -9 July bodes well for the future with Year 9 being won by Taieri College and in Year 10 Southland Girls‟ were the runners up. In Year 9 we also saw Southland Girls‟ finish 7th and in Year 10 St Hildas were 5th and James Hargest 8th respectively. Congratulations to all teams, support staff, umpires and technical officials that have been part of the many tournaments that have taken place. You will read more about this in the following pages. All the very best for the remaining tournaments of 2014 and a huge thank you to the families that support us during this very busy period. With the resignation of Jo Morrison as our High Performance Manager earlier in the year, you will be aware that there has been no replacement made. During the year Netball New Zealand has undergone a player review and are in the final stages of the Player Development Plan and our Zone plan will need to align with this in the coming year. For those involved in the Talent Development Programme, we will be in touch to gather your thoughts and recommendations for 2015. Janine Southby is working with our coaches and reviewing the U23 campaign and will also add valuable input into the future direction of this programme. We have welcomed Paula Kay-Rogers as the Central Otago Development officer and it‟s great to have her on board. Our Netball South staff are available to assist so please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries. It was great to be part of the last day at the Development Camp in Gore earlier in the year and see these young netballers, coaches and umpires having a fun yet productive experience. This has become a popular fixture on our Netball South calendar. Another Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel season has come to a close and what a run to the finish line – a very credible 5th in the toughest netball competition in the world. Our wonderful Wendy Frew has her own thoughts on this later in the newsletter. Planning and recruitment for 2015 is well underway and I wonder if the girls opt for that magenta dress next season? Two major events will be occurring in the coming months. The South Island Secondary Schools Tournament is being played in the ILT Stadium Southland from 1 -5 September and then the Silver Ferns take on the Diamonds in the first fixture of the Constellation Cup on 2 October. There will be some fantastic netball to be viewed so make sure you have your calendars marked! Best wishes Netball South teams perform on the national stage Netball South teams performed admirably at their respective New Zealand Age Group Championships earlier this month. Our Zone hosted the U23 and U19 tournaments at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin, relishing the opportunity to showcase our sport on home turf. In the U23 ranks, Netball South featured in a highly anticipated rematch of last year‟s epic final encounter - which WBOP won by just one goal. While the match itself certainly lived up to the hype, unfortunately for South, history did repeat with WBOP snatching a last-gasp 60-58 victory. In the U19 Championship, Dunedin finished 8th overall, with Wakatipu and Southland placing 18th and 19th respectively. From a 40-strong field of teams, the Dunedin U17 booked itself a semi-final spot at the tournament staged at North Harbour. However, Auckland 1 proved too strong, winning the semi-final 34-26 and eventually securing the national title. In the play-off for third and fourth, Dunedin dominated Wellington to lead 17-11 at halftime and secure a 34-26 victory. It is the highest finish for Dunedin U17 since the competition‟s inception five years ago. Their Southland counterparts finished a credible 18th overall. Congratulations to the following Netball South players whose standout performances were recognised by Netball New Zealand selectors: NZU23 Tournament Selection Gina Crampton Phoenix Karaka Te Paea Selby-Rickit Midcourter of the Tournament: Gina Crampton NZU19 Tournament Selection Danielle Gray – Dunedin U17 Tournament Selection Abby Erwood - Dunedin Ascot Park Hotel Netball South Zone U23 – 2nd overall Dunedin Netball U17 – 3rd overall BREAKING NEWS: Learn from legends Two absolute legends of our game, former Silver Fern Temepara Bailey and former Australian Diamond Catherine Cox, will be hosting a netball clinic in Invercargill in October. An Invercargill Netball Centre initiative, in conjunction with the Invercargill Licensing Trust, the ILT Coaching Clinic is not to be missed. Limited to just 40 places, young netballers will have a rare chance to learn from two of the best players ever to grace the international netball court.