Capital city netball to test new facilities

 By MELANIE TOLIKEN

IT will be a big year for netball in the capital city as the Port Moresby Netball Association is keen to start the 2016 season with the use of new facilities. 

The association will begin trials this weekend at the new Rita Flynn Netball courts. The trials will run for three weeks until the start of the proper season on March 12.

POMNA deputy-secretary Dianne Kala-Lahari said the city’s netball competition had been put off for almost two seasons because they had issues with securing a proper venue for games. Now that the Rita Flynn Netball complex is operational, she expects the competition to benefit from the use of the world-class facility.

POMNA will also be hosting the junior netball championships in July and the senior competition in September.  

Preparations for these major events will begin once the season proper starts.

“So far, we have 14 clubs from last season who have shown interest but the three weekends of trials will determine how many clubs and teams we’ll have,” Lahari said.

“We have 49 clubs in total. These  include clubs from last season and new teams. Junior competition includes Under-10, 13, 15, 17 and 21 with eight teams in each division, while the senior competition includes premiers with eight teams and division one to seven with eight teams each,” Lahari said.

POMNA urges clubs wanting to join this season to send an email to [email protected] to declare their interest. 

A special annual general meeting will be held on the March 5 at the netball courts.