Girls find spark to shine at tourney - June 2015

GOAL TIME: Wanganui U17 GS Taliah Su'a (Wanganui High School student) is strong to the ball against Hutt Valley while teammates GA Te Manawanui Tapa-Ranginui and C Kataraina Hakaraia provide back-up at the Steffersen Netball Tournament in Palmerston North.

WANGANUI representative teams showed they were on the rise with solid performances at the Steffersen Netball Tournament at Vautier Park in Palmerston North.

The Under-17 side won their divisions on Sunday, while the Under-15 Blue and Year 8 girls did well to finish second in theirs.

The Under-15 White and Year 8 sides finished a little off the pace in their grades, but still showed some positives for future battles to come.

A solid outing for the U17 team on Sunday in which coach Parekura Muraahi said comfort zones had been pushed, combinations were solidified, mistakes were heralded as valuable learning opportunities and more than a wee bit of magic took place.

The day began with a re-match against Horowhenua, and Wanganui started well to lead 9-3 at the first-quarter break.

Horowhenua hit back strongly to win the second and fourth quarters 5-8 and 6-8, however.

Muraahi felt this provided her team with the opportunity to learn how to readjust to familiar opponents who had also learned from their previous encounter with Wanganui, the final score going the way of her side 26-21.

Game two against Hawke's Bay saw the team start strongly again, leading 10-3 after the first quarter and 16-8 at halftime.

A loss of connections on attack in the second half let Hawke's Bay back in to take the game to 25-24.

"It was a learning curve for the girls but a great one because without such experiences they would not learn to rise above, which is exactly what they did in their next game against a very tall Hutt Valley side (who went on to beat Hawke's Bay by seven)," Muraahi said.

Trailing 18-19 going into the final quarter, the team's focus in training on defence produced some vital turnovers that were superbly finished off at the other end to see Wanganui win 29-23.

In the final match of the day, Wanganui were up against Wairarapa, whom they had played previously. The goal, therefore, was to ensure the team were able to maintain intensity and build from start to finish without losing focus. They did this, winning each quarter, 8-4, 10-4, 12-5 and 9-4, to finish solidly with a 39-17 win.

The side now look forward to next weekend in Wellington where they expect to meet some of the tougher teams in the region for a new one-day invitational tournament.

The Wanganui Under-15 Blue team's stellar performance continued on Sunday as they finished one step ahead of their last tournament effort, placing second overall and winning four of five games.

The side beat rivals Manawatu 34-26, having previously lost to them in the semifinal in Wellington, but went down to a talented Wellington Black side in a disappointing final result which did not reflect the team's potential.

The tournament also provided an opportunity to play against two other teams for the first time, which proved successful, with the Wanganui combination beating Hawke's Bay 23-10 and downing Taranaki 29-21.

The Under-15 White team have been working on consolidating team connections through the court.

There have been great connections between the defence players, Leigha Stormont and Taliatua Leo working well in the circle gathering rebounds and picking up intercepts and tips regularly.

The Year 8 girls were really pumped about heading to Palmerston North for their first fixture of the season. Windy conditions hindered shots and passing in the first game against HBS Hawke's Bay, and handling errors saw a 17-11 loss.

This did not dampen spirits and a match-up against Manawatu was what they needed to get their game on. The training from the last few weeks paid off, strong combinations and attacking play ensuring a 21-14 win.

The determination continued with a 23-15 win against Motu Kairangi and a 24 -15 win against Northern Suburbs.

The battle for second behind Hawke's Bay was to be decided on score differential between Wanganui and Manawatu, which played on the players' nerves in their final game.

However, Wanganui had the better results on the day, coming second in their division.

With an early, cold start to the day, it was great to see the Year 7 girls enthusiastic about going to Palmerston North to play their first tournament of their season.

The team had Manawatu A first up, a tough match to start their tournament. The girls came out with all guns blazing and gave it everything to come out on top and secure their first win for the season. They played with courage and determination but unfortunately saw some injuries as a result.

Consequently, the girls had to adjust to new positions and cover for their injured teammates. They did an amazing job playing out of position and showed some gutsy play. They lost their three remaining games but played hard to the end and the scores could have gone either way.

Many positives were seen and the team feel the tournament in Wanganui this weekend will bring better results.