Junior Netta records successful turnouts

By KYMLIE KARANI
NETBALL Papua New Guinea will continue the roll-out of the Digicel Junior Netta Coaching Clinic this weekend.
That follows the hugely successful turnout of junior netballers simultaneously in Alotau, Lae and Kokopo last weekend.
Netball PNG will be continuing over the next two weekends by targeting local communities.
The turn-out of players ranging in age from three to 15-year-olds was overwhelming and the support by parents, guardians, school teachers and volunteers was a great sign of better things for netball in the future.
It was estimated that approximately 500 players took part in the two-day programme in the three locations over the weekend.
According to the respective coordinators, some players had to travel into town just to participate in the coaching clinic and showed so much enthusiasm and eagerness to learn how to play netball.
In Kokopo, children travelled from as far as Warongoi and Gelegele, while in Lae a good number of children came in from as far as Salamaua.
Alotau had the largest participation with 224 girls from nine schools and the youngest participant aged three.
“The main focus of this pilot programme is to gauge the interest of young girls in the sport, to establish partnerships with the local communities for future roll out of the programme, and to encourage school kids to develop good healthy habits by participating in sports, particularly netball,” Netball PNG’s president Julienne-Leka Maliaki said.
“What has transpired out of this pilot project was the birth of junior competitions in the localities and the transfer of skills and knowledge to local trainers, particularly netball coaches and teachers to deliver and sustain this programme in the future,” she said.