Purvis Named NZU21 Captain For World Youth Netball Champions

Purvis Named NZU21 Captain For World Youth Netball Championships

9 August 2013:  Netball New Zealand is pleased to announce Storm Purvis as Captain of the New Zealand Under 21 team heading to Scotland next week to contest the World Youth Netball Championships (WYC). Purvis will lead the side, with mid-courter Nadia Loveday announced as Vice-Captain of the team.

Both players have featured in ANZ Championship sides this season, Purvis for the Southern Steel and Loveday for the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic. Their experience playing top-level netball has developed their leadership skills both on and off the court and they have been awarded accordingly.

The team of 12 players plus the NZU21 management team have been in camp this week ahead of the Glasgow tournament starting on August 22. Over the week, the team has gained valuable on-court experience playing against the Silver Ferns and National Accelerant Squad triallists.

NZU21 Coach Janine Southby says playing against the best Netballers in the country has been invaluable.

“It was a pretty tough ask for the team, but when we stuck to our game plan and executed it well, we looked pretty good.”

Southby admits there are still key areas to work on before the tournament starts in just under two weeks’ time.

“The players need that familiarity so it’s about giving them time to get out there now and work through it.”

The mental aspect of playing in a round-robin format in the WYC is another facet the management team have been focusing on with the Under 21 team.

“The big challenge is for the team to be able to shift mentally really quickly and we don’t know how strong some of these teams are,” Southby said.

Shooter Te Paea Selby-Rickit says the team are starting to get excited as the departure date draws near.

“We are so excited and can’t wait to get over there. It’s been building for four years and we just want to get out on the court and get playing.”

The NZU21 team leave New Zealand on August 15 and will play in Group B at the tournament against Trinidad & Tobago, Northern Ireland, Bermuda and Malta from August 22.

Australia are the defending WYC champions, and there are high hopes and expectations that New Zealand can go one better than their runner-up placing at the previous World Youth Netball Championships in the Cook Islands four years ago.

ENDS

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