Young Netball Central Zone Shooters to Learn from the Best

Young Netball Central Zone Shooters to Learn from the Best

Media Release
24 November 2014

The most promising young shooters from across the Netball Central Zone are being given the opportunity to learn from the very best with the launch of the Suzuki Shooting Clinics.

These specialised clinics will be held across Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu and Wellington and will be led by legendary shooter Irene van Dyk – the world’s most capped international netballer and leading points scorer.

Netball Central Zone CEO Carolyn Young believes that this is a much-needed opportunity for young shooters to enhance their game and help to close the gap between age group netball and the elite game.

“We are aiming to upskill the best young shooters in our zone by giving them an opportunity to improve and take them up to the next step in their development,” she explained. “This programme will help to facilitate growth throughout the zone.

“At each tournament throughout the season, the zone has had representatives from a selection committee identifying the top players in the U15, U17 and U19 squads and getting a real feel for the talent in our zone. The objective of the Suzuki Shooting Clinics is to develop these players so they can feed into our U23 programme and ultimately go on to play for the Central Pulse.

“Learning from Irene will be a fantastic experience for these youngsters. We are all very fortunate that she is so determined to give back to the community and to the game itself. Suzuki has also made a considerable contribution to this programme and we are extremely grateful for their continued support.”

Sue Geale, General Manager of Netball Wellington - one of the NCZ lead centres taking part in the shooting clinic programme, is excited about the implementation of the clinics and the immense opportunity they will give the emerging shooters. “The girls currently do well for where they are at in their netball, but if they want to aspire to be the best they need to learn from the best, and that is Irene,” she said.

“Knowing and understanding what it takes to be an elite athlete, the sacrifices they need to make, and the commitment they have to give, is something that they can only truly learn from someone who has been through it. What an inspirational experience for them to be part of and one that the zone and the NCZ centres will most definitely benefit from long term.”

Irene van Dyk is looking forward to giving the youngsters the opportunity to develop their shooting further. “I’m really excited about having the chance to help our younger talent to know how to train and to prepare for being on court at the elite level,” she said.

“Shooters spend a lot of time shooting goal after goal, it’s gets boring after while - it’s just you, the ball and the goal post, so to keep training interesting and engaging, we’re going to focus on making it very game specific. They should expect the unexpected,” she added.

“I’m so stoked Suzuki is supporting the programme. Unless there is a committed sponsor like Suzuki, important programmes like this just don’t happen,” she explained. “Suzuki’s support is not only contributing to netball now, but also for the future. It’s a very precious relationship and I’m very thankful for Suzuki believing in me, in the programme and the future of netball in our region.”

Gary Collins, General Manager Suzuki, is thrilled to be able to support such a worthwhile programme with the zone’s elite young shooters. “Suzuki has been a proud supporter of the Central Pulse netball team and we’re delighted to be able to help instigate the Suzuki Shooting Clinics programme to develop up and coming netball shooting talent.

“There has been much exposure over the need for us to develop our depth in netball shooters and the partnership with Irene will be of great benefit to New Zealand netball. Irene has a wealth of experience and knowledge and Suzuki is delighted to be able to partner with her to develop such a positive initiative for netball in New Zealand.”

ENDS

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