Photo supplied.Maintaining momentum has been the key for Ashburton College’s A netballers since they qualified for the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Netball Championships.

And it hasn’t been easy, given the time that’s elapsed since they gained qualification by finishing fourth at the South Island event. That was back in early September and the national event starts on Tuesday – more than a month later – at the same venue as the South Island tournament, in Nelson.

That South Island tournament came just a few days after College A claimed the Mid Canterbury Netball premier one crown with a win over Celtic A in the final. The young College girls were playing a lot of netball, and playing it well.

But that was essentially the end of the regular netball season. So with that place sealed at the national tournament, the Kaye Kennedy-coached side needed game time and set about finding some.

Now, just a couple of days out from the tournament getting under way in Nelson, they’re as ready as they’ll ever be.

They’ve played in a mini-tournament with the three other Canterbury teams that qualified for nationals, local players have helped out by providing games and on Thursday night they finished their build-up with a game at Ashburton’s EA Networks Centre against another nationals contender, St Margarets, who has former Silver Fern Julie Seymour as part of their coaching line-up.

It was a game played over six 10-minute periods and for Kennedy it wasn’t about the score, it was about getting things right before the biggest test in the young playing careers of the Ashburton College girls.

Ashburton College will play Whanganui High School – the team that finished third in the lower North Island tournament – on Tuesday morning, followed by what will be their toughest test in the afternoon. Their pool – pool A – includes the upper North Island tournament winners, St Kentigern College, and Ashburton College have them in game two.

They’ll then finish pool play against Epsom Girls’ Grammar School – the team that came fifth in the upper North Island tournament – on Wednesday, before the tournament heads into cross over play, with all roads leading to the big final on Friday at 1.40pm.

Kennedy said her team has goals, but rather than where they finish, their goals related more to how many goals they want to score each quarter and limiting the opposition.

Going to nationals is a fantastic opportunity and while the College girls know it will be tough, they’re determined to give it their all.

“We aren’t just going up there for the experience, we want to perform well,” Kennedy said.

For the side’s Year 13 players, the national event will be the final time they play netball for their school and the team want to do well for them, and for themselves.

“It may be the only time that most of these players will get that opportunity, so we’ve got to make the most of it,” Kennedy said.

“We just need to go into every game and take it to them, and try our best.”

Ashburton College last attended the nationals in 2017, when another team pulled out, but until this year, the last time they’d officially qualified was in 2002.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 5 October 2019