Netball: Pre-season tournament for Queenstown

Hannah Broederlow.
Hannah Broederlow.
The Southern Steel will host a pre-season tournament at the Queenstown Events Centre in February with the ANZ Championship title holder making the trip across the Tasman.

Details will be finalised in mid-January but Steel chief executive Julie Paterson said the New South Wales Swifts, winners of the inaugural transtasman competition, the Canterbury Tactix and the Northern Mystics had all confirmed their participation.

The Australian Institute of Sport had also expressed interest in attending the three-day tournament beginning on February 20.

Paterson said the decision to host a pre-season tournament in Queenstown was to "showcase" the sport to the public and potential sponsors in the region.

"We've been talking to businesses in Queenstown over the past few years and all of those businesses have said they would like to get involved but only if we were able to get a game into Queenstown," she said.

"Obviously, we can't have a [ANZ Championship] game in Queenstown because they don't have the seating capacity there."

The Queenstown Events Centre has a capacity of about 350 but the minimum required capacity to host a championship game is 2500.

"The other reason we wanted to go into Queenstown is because it is very important to get our team out in the community and we have a lot of supporters in the Queenstown and Central Otago area."

There are plans for the event to become an annual fixture but "we have to see how it works" first, she said.

The Steel also has tentative plans to host a pre-season game between the Steel and the Tactix in Dunedin.

Meanwhile, two Otago players have been included in the Central Pulse squad for the next ANZ Championship.

Defender Hannah Broederlow and promising midcourter Camilla Lees were yesterday named in the squad which includes Silver Ferns shooter Paula Griffin and Jamaican defender Althea Byfield.

Central coach Yvette McCausland-Durie said she was thrilled with the side.

"I am really pleased with the mix of youth and experience we have been able to secure," she said in a press release.

"We have a number of players from the central region as well as our first Silver Fern to be signed to the Pulse and the experienced Jamaican defender Althea Byfield."

Central Pulse. -Shooters: Paula Griffin, Jamilah Gupwell, Larissa Harrison, Te Amo Amaru-Tibble. Midcourt: Cushla Litchwark, Neesha Weiser, Camilla Lees, Ngarama Milner. Defenders: Althea Byfield, Hannah Broederlow, Bessie Manu, Katie King.

 

Add a Comment