Netball season is upon us once again and 2026 will see the sport finally be played indoors.
North Otago Netball president Kim Neill said preparations had gone well for the new season beginning this week.
"We’re looking forward to it, it should be a great season."
She and the rest of the netball community were eagerly awaiting the opening of the new Network Waitaki Event Centre which would house the sport once it was up and running.
"Moving inside will be great, no more rain days.
"We are really looking forward to getting in and using the event centre."
Junior netball will now be split between Thursday and Friday nights to fit all teams into the event centre.
There are 43 junior teams signed up and 40 senior teams, meaning a new senior grade has been added.
North Otago now has five grades — premier A and B as well as senior 1, 2 and now 3.
Premier A and B will also change to 60-minute games with 15-minute quarters, as opposed to 40-minute games with 10-minute quarters which it was in previous years.
All other grades will remain with the shorter game time.
Neill said this decision was made to "move with the times".
"A lot of places play 60-minute games and North Otago has always played 40 minutes so we just discussed and decided it was definitely worth trialling."
This would also help the North Otago representative team get acclimated to the longer games as Hanan Shield matches were also 60 minutes, she said.
North Otago Netball will also play host to a regional under-16 tournament next weekend and will have two teams entered.
