Introduction
I take a look at a variety of netball related stories in the below entry.
November Notes Part One
Tauranga to host Pre-Season Tournament
Tauranga’s days as a netball backwater are over after the city beat off bids from Sydney and Melbourne to host all 10 ANZ championship teams in a three-day pre-season tournament next year.
Already given the green light to host three transtasman competition games next season involving Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, Tauranga’s TECT Arena will be overflowing with the world’s best talent from March 2-4 for the competition’s only official pre-season tournament.
It is being jointly hosted by Transtasman Netball, Tauranga City Venues and Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic in March 2012.
For the first time since the competition was established in 2008 all 10 teams will contest the pre-season tournament, with SKY Television also set to use Tauranga as the backdrop for its pre-packaged tournament visuals.
Ervin McSweeney, TCVL general manager, said he and Magic chief executive Sheryl Dawson put together the bid after ANZ Championship organisers sent a letter to all 10 netball franchises asking for expressions of interest in hosting the tournament.
I have no problem with Tauranga hosting a pre-season tournament . My only suggestion would be that the tournament is rotated on a yearly basis location wise. In other words words the tournament should be held in say Tauranga, Timaru and Queenstown on a annual basis. It is important that netball fans and supporters in the South Island who live outside of Christchurch,Dunedin and Invercargill get a taste of the ANZ Championship. This can really apply to younger fans of the sport who have no control over where there parents live.
The Canterbury Tactix new management group want to heap the players with responsibility and accountability for next year’s trans-Tasman netball competition.
Coach Leigh Gibbs had her squad together for the first time last weekend – minus two English imports Stacey Francis and Jo Harten – and said the initial enthusiasm and excitement, though encouraging, would mean nothing if it didn’t last the season.
Gibbs comes with a wealth of experience while her assistant Julie Seymour has more hands on experience with the side, being involved as a player or assistant for the last four seasons.
But, as Gibbs said, they can bring as much tactical nous and experience as they like, if the players don’t buy into what the franchise is trying to do and take more responsibility for their actions on and off the court, the results won’t come.
“It’s about creating the right environment and getting them [the players] to buy into it. We can talk until we’re blue in the face but if they don’t buy into it and do the work, then they won’t progress, and the Tactix won’t progress.”
Gibbs said the initial enthusiasm from the team was pleasing and a lot of that came from the franchise approaching “the right people”
Well it makes sense that the Canterbury Tactix squad would want to have a early pre-season meet up. New head coach Leigh Gibbs will have wanted to assess her teams fitness. IMO Gibbs will have also wanted to take a closer look at the members of her squad weakness and strengths. It is always harder to put the right person in the right position or job vacancy, then it is to simple hire the right person. This applies equally to sport , politics , you name it. How well Gibbs can mould and blend her side will help determine if they collect the wooden spoon or finish closer to mid table.
