By Hollie Harris
NOOSA DISTRICT NETBALL
It is 9.30am Saturday at the Noosa District Netball Park and as I stood with club Patron and Life Member Lola McDonald and watched the morning competition unfold, I found it hard to understand how come this obviously successful and well-supported game was such a well-kept secret.
With a total of some 400 competitors and 40 teams, it was quite obvious that here is a sport that successfully caters for the female population of our community; and is indeed looking very strong.
Run by a committee of six and under the supervision of President Bev Bullivant, they have a total of 11 hard courts and four grass – and this does indeed tend to keep coordinator Therese Tati very busy.
“We have been striving for some time to get more exposure,” Bev said, “but for some reason it just hasn’t been happening.”
With 15 courts plus a club house and canteen, the facilities are good and there is definitely no lack of support from families and locals.
With Saturday competition for 6-15 age group and Monday evenings indoor games at the Noosa Leisure Centre for the adult ladies (who have some 330 members filling 32 teams) the sport is definitely solid.
“This is definitely a great family game,” Bev said. “We have several instances of mothers who played here as young girls, now having their daughters out on the courts. Also you will always find a lot of grandparents coming along on Saturday mornings to give support.’’
To ensure a high standard of play, the Noosa Club runs umpire training programs that have proven very successful.
Treasurer Jane Marren, who has held the chair for five years and also works in promotion said, “The recent win by the Sunshine Coast Lightning has been great for the sport; add to this the TV exposure and you couldn’t ask for better. Representatives of the team have recently paid us a visit, thus showing that they are prepared to put back into the sport in a big way.
“Netball is no different to any other amateur sport, in as much as all the people connected to the club – management, coaches and workers all have full time jobs. To make time available to help their club can be difficult.
“For example, on carnival days our workforce can be faced with a day that goes from 7am to 4pm and sometimes longer. So whenever someone gives an hour or two during the day we are indeed grateful,” Bev said.
On Sunday 30 July, Noosa Netball will play host to a carnival with a possible 52 clubs taking part; coming from districts such as Gympie, Caboolture, Buderim, Caloundra and Palmwoods to name just a few.
We hope all goes well for this hard working dedicated team.
When we look at all the supporters, many of them retired grandparents, we wonder if there is not a retired journo or two amongst them who would like to assist in promotion.
If there is, just make yourself known – your help would be appreciated.
Let us never forget that sport brings publicity and business into our community.
Well done to Noosa District Netball.
