Impressive! That’s how coach Kirsty Naish would describe her NB Chartered Accountants Mid Canterbury U16A Netball team’s performance at the U16 Tupuranga Championship over Kings Birthday weekend.

The short preparation time heading into the tournament (run by Mid Canterbury Netball and Christchurch Netball Centre at Nga Puna Wai in Christchurch) wasn’t quite what Naish had hoped for, but despite that she said the girls stood up and pushed themselves beyond what she had seen from them before.

The team finished day one with two wins and a tough loss by Christchurch Red (A). But overall it was three impressive performances from all players who took the court.

“The team really came together; there were often two green and gold dresses chasing down a loose ball or going for an intercept. Our middies looked after the shoots with good quality ball and then our shoots, who were flawless all weekend, were composed under the post,” Naish said.

On day two they knew they were in for a fighting chance of making semis but had to lock in at least one win.

“Our first game of the day was our most challenging game mentally all weekend; we were down most of the game, basic errors costing us, but the girls battled and fought hard to get back the lead in the final quarter and came away with the win. The fight to win that game showed great courage and held them in excellent stead for the rest of the weekend,” Naish said.

“We could see they grew a lot from that game mentally. We finished day two again with two wins, and a tough loss to Christchurch Black (B). It was promising to see our improvement from our preseason game with a solid win over South Canterbury to end the day.”

Having secured fourth spot heading in to finals, Mid Canterbury U16A then had the bold task of taking on table-toppers Dunedin A in the semi-finals.

“The nerves in the van on the way there were notable, but we executed our warm up with determination and belief,” Naish said.

Dunedin took an early lead but Mid Canterbury kept fighting back and stayed within 2 or 3 goals all game.

“We executed our game play to perfection; every player gave it 110% and left everything they had on the court. We managed to grind away and no matter what changes Dunedin made we kept neck and neck with them.

“A key injury to our team, and Dunedin making further changes swung the game slightly and we went down by four in the final minutes.”

Naish said she had never lost a semi-final and been as proud as she was. She said it was the game of the tournament and she had not seen that level from the team before.

Keen, hungry, athletic and a bunch of good buggers is how she described her team, which was led well by captain Emma Lowry.

“Nothing phases Emma; she rises to a challenge, incredibly reliable and has a high work rate; a true leader.

“The circle defence combination of Isla Gilbert and Georgia Scammell grew from strength to strength. They were phenomenal; we couldn’t fit all their turnovers and rebounds on the stat sheet most games.

“We had Ashlee Estreich and Elsie Dargue hustling on the wing; putting the opposition under a lot of pressure and getting some great turnovers.

“Then our midcourt combo of Lucy Pearce and Tilly Johnson displayed so much flare, hitting the corners, variety of feeding and punching into space. They were unstoppable.

“The most versatile shooter I’ve seen, Amelia Mitchell; took on every challenge. Switching from GS to WA. Steady and reliable. And our youngest and newcomer Tessa Jordaan showed her flare and versatility between GA/WA. Very exciting to watch both these girls shift between positions with ease.

“Our GA Chloe Prendergast was exceptional; and although the girls didn’t know who Belinda Colling was; it was mentioned how similar Chloe plays to her. The team also owes Chloe a Coke and raspberry for picking up some wild passes!

“Finally, our GS Kalotia Ula played some of the best netball we have seen of her. Shooter to shoot play, pin-point accuracy and always available.”

Mid Canterbury U16A finished fourth place after playing 8 games in two and half days. And the Mid Canterbury U16B team, who were also in action at the tournament in the B grade, also performed well, finishing 9^th – both teams finishing well higher than they did in 2023.

The Mid Canterbury U16B team was coached by Sam O’Brien, and among their results over the three days was two draws which could’ve easily been wins. They finished the tournament playing off for ninth against Marlborough B and won that to top off a huge three days.

Mid Canterbury’s U18 team was also in action at the Christchurch Netball Centre run King’s Birthday Weekend tournament. It was the first hit-outs of the season for the Cindy Meadows coached side, which will head to nationals in Dunedin in July, and they went down in two hard-fought matches on Saturday (to South Canterbury and Central Lakes), and then lost to Nelson and Selwyn on the Sunday. But with only a couple of trainings under their belts heading into the weekend, Meadows and her young charges should be proud of their efforts and will certainly learn and build from here.

The weekend’s results showed that the future of Mid Canterbury Netball is in good hands, which is very exciting, with results really starting to show from the off-season emerging talent programme.

A big thank you to all coaches, and the managers of each team – Nicole Hands, Nicky McDonnell and Rosemary Adlam – and to all of the parent and supporters who travelled to Christchurch to cheer the teams on. But most of all thank you to all three of the Mid Canterbury rep teams who were in action over the weekend – you all did Mid Canterbury very proud!

Article added: Thursday 06 June 2024