March 19, 2017
The Nanango and Districts Netball Association (NDNA) has had a membership explosion this year, and the evidence was in plain view on Friday afternoon.
The club’s courts at Brooklands Road were jam-packed with keen young players and their parents, all enjoying a final pre-season “Come And Try” day before the 2017 competition begins in earnest next week.
Nanango has run a joint competition with neighbouring Kingaroy for many years, but this year both clubs decided to suspend it so they could focus on building their membership bases.
Nanango has been an early beneficiary of this arrangement, with sign-ups almost doubling to 135 in the past four weeks.
A big block of the club’s new members have come from Cherbourg, which doesn’t have any netball courts of its own.
Each week about 50 players make the journey to Nanango by bus.
“We are so happy to welcome these new, fresh, enthusiastic, talented players into our association,” NDNA president Sheena Lindholm said.
“There are three main ladies behind bringing girls over from Cherbourg, and they’re passionate about giving these girls a start in the sport.
“However, they’re looking for funding to get uniforms for some of the girls, and if numbers keep growing they may need a second mini-bus too.”
Sheena said that so far the new players have been holding their own fundraising barbecues, but anyone who’d like to help is very welcome to make a direct deposit donation to NDNA’s account.
NDNA itself is still applying for funding to replace their courts, which need to be demolished and rebuilt to eliminate long-standing problems with flooding on the site.
“We’ve raised more than $110,000 of our $260,000 goal, and with the current courts now running at capacity the need to get this funding is even more urgent,” Sheena said.
“But we’re confident we can do it.”
This year the club is hosting Midget, Junior, Cadet and Senior competitions.
New players are still welcome, though, and anyone who’d like to join any of the competitions should turn up at the netball courts at 4:30pm on a Friday afternoon to get more details about fees, uniforms and times, or they can phone Sheena on 0439-085-947.
Direct deposits to assist the club’s Cherbourg players can be made to BSB 638-070 Account Number 791-6361 using “C-Donate” as a reference.
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Its great to see the revived interest in netball competition which originally blossomed in the South Burnett following World War II. Just a few years later the code switched to basketball when a colas court was laid on the present site of the South Burnett Times.
From 1951 until 1962 there was a dramatic swing to the five a team game pioneered by former Kingaroy painter-signwriter Phil Schober. Netball fixtures in senior ranks closed with an avalanche of players plus new beginners competing in all ages at the new colas court complex in the heart of Kingaroy.
A number even made State basketball sides with the interest so great that up to 200 in all age groups in both men, women and young age sides were utilising the court almost five nights a week. Then it gradually started to wane when a new court was built on the site now owned by the Dundas Automotive Group before a further move to Rotary Park.
Maybe we will see the resurrection of four netball courts in Wondai which have remained idle for many years. There’s no doubt the surge in netball has been encouraged by the State wide television coverage, originally with the Firebirds and now with two other State teams competing at the same level.