Grading change in netball

Press, 10 March 1987, Page 29

Grading change in netball

Canterbury netball officials are anticipating an exciting season with the adoption of a dramatically changed senior grading system. Grading days will be conducted over a period of four weeks and will operate on a round-robin points system, which will allow all teams equal opportunity to be selected in the top grades. However, the two Swiss Maid League representatives for Canterbury, St Nicholas and Sacred Heart, will be excluded from the competition, leaving 18 teams to play two halfhour games every Saturday in the period, accumulating points for victories.

The six top teams will join the Swiss Maid teams to fill the premier section. The senior and senior reserve grades will also be selected on the points system and will follow in order. St Nicholas and Sacred Heart will play all their Swiss Maid league games in Canterbury. Sacred Heart again has the services of its skilful captain, Leigh Gibbs. “She is such an amazing sportswoman, but unfortunately, the sort of person that is unsung,” said Mrs Marie Erickson, the president of the Canterbury Netball Association.

Gibbs suffered an achilles injury last season, but has bounced back iijto the New Zealand team.

Canterbury will be losing some of its top players. Sacred Heart will miss two of its strong goal scorers, Stephanie StokesWashinton, who is moving to Wellington, and Diana Horton, who is expecting a baby. Hagley will be without the mainstay of its team, Jan Pickering, who shot so well last season.

Burnside’s player-cap-tain, Suzanne Camp, who has had a strong influence on the team’s play, will not take the court this season, having decided to concentrate on basketball. This has also meant her withdrawal from the Young International squad.

The national tournament will be held in Invercargill from August 31 to September 5 and will exclude New Zealand representatives, who will be playing at the world tournament in Scotland.

This will, of course, dilute the strength of the provincial teams while providing a unique opportunity for coaches to expose new players to the rigours of top New Zealand competition. Canterbury will notice the difference with the absence of Leigh Gibbs, its

captain, Annette Heffernan and Angela Pule, the new captain, who have been selected for the national squad. The All England team will tour New Zealand this year, but Dunedin is the only South Island venue selected for a test match, which will be held on April 25. The Canterbury Netball Association has arranged, through its sponsors, Trust Bank Canterbury and Air New Zealand, for an Australian coach and wellknown sportswoman, Joyce Brown, to hold a four-day programme designed to help coaches and top players in the Canterbury region. Mrs Erickson is conscious of Australia being this country’s strongest competition and particularly pinpoints the weaker shooting averages when compared with Australian counterparts.

“Australia has a different method of shooting, which we hope to instil in our players,” she said. Men’s netball is growing steadily in Canterbury, but often takes second place to other popular winter sports. The men’s Canterbury association hopes to gain increasing numbers from the summer league and anticipates a strong winter competition.