Teams from the Broken Hill Netball Association (BHNA) are currently taking a well-deserved mid-season break from the spring competition before the final five weeks of the regular season begins.
“As much as we all love netball, I think having a mid-season break is beneficial, especially this late in the year,” BHNA President, Tori McManus, told the Barrier Truth.
“A lot of our juniors are finishing school or have exams, a lot of the parents who also play are quite tired from all the carnivals – not only from netball but basketball and football – so having a little bit of break towards the end of the year resets everyone to head into the second half and into finals.”
Participation has been solid across all junior and senior grades, with plenty of attention and focus on the Association’s representative team.
Ms McManus also said there’s been greater numbers in other integral areas of the Association that has been pleasing to see.
“We now have eight kids registered to our Net Set GO program and it’s only growing,” she said of the program aimed at kids aged five to 10.
“We expect to see some more kids when we return after school holidays. [Our new Net Set GO Coordinator] Kaitlin’s come in and done an amazing job with encouraging our little netters.
“We’ve also had a few more junior umpires come on board and learn the umpiring gig overall which is very good to see, so having some juniors step up and learn is a really good opportunity for the Association.”
A shake-up of the competition grades from the 2023 winter season has been beneficial to the Association, said Ms McManus. Previously, grades ranged from nine and under, 11 and under, 14 and under, and 17 and under. Now however, the 14 and under grade has been split into two – 13 and under and 15 and under.
“The restructure in the middle of the year was a little bit difficult,” Ms McManus said.
“We’ve gone with this new way of grading to give more opportunities to our juniors to develop and remain interested.
“With this new grading structure, it has split up skill level and age level and we’re seeing that it’s better for the competition overall because you’ve got the 15-year-olds playing against 15-year-olds instead of 15-year-olds playing against 12-year-olds.
“Moving forward, I think it’s good for not only the Association to be able to develop our players locally, it’s also good for our players to develop their skill level, to play with people who are on the same skill level and then they can play up a grade as well.
“This also falls in line with Netball South Australia’s grading system, so when we go away to carnivals in SA, we’re actually in line with them.”
When the 2023 spring season returns to the courts at O’Neill Memorial Park on Tuesday, October 10, it will be Pink Round, with all money donated in the cash tins provided at the gate given to breast cancer awareness charities.
