Netball NSW is pleased to announce four players to lead the underage State Teams in 2014.

Amy Sommerville (21/U), Tanisha Stanton (19/U) and Amy Parmenter (17/U) will Captain NSW for the upcoming 2014 National Netball Championships, while Braeden Quince has been selected to lead the 17/U Development Squad.

Netball NSW General Manager – High Performance Tracey Fear said the athletes selected epitomise the persona and hard work ethic of a NSW netballer.

“Our 2014 Captains are fantastic leadership choices for the teams.  They possess the sort of work ethic, dedication and respect that we expect from our athletes, and will do a great job leading their respective teams,” Fear said.

“NSW has a reputation for producing some of the best netball talent in the country, as seen with 18 NSW juniors currently contesting the ANZ Championship, as well as five in the Australian Diamonds squad.

“Kim Green, one of our most successful leaders will help mentor our State Team Captains on the road to Nationals.  Kim has also come through the NSW junior ranks and it is great that she is able to share her experiences with our future leaders.”

“Our 21/U, 19/U and 17/U sides are all preparing well, and we would like to take this opportunity to wish them all the best at the 2014 National Netball Championships,” Fear concluded.

Netball NSW’s Nationals campaign starts next week when the 21/U State Team head to Adelaide to compete against some of Australia’s best up and coming netballers at Netball SA Stadium from Tuesday 11 to Sunday 16 March.

The 2014 competition will be Amy Sommerville’s seventh and final appearance at the National tournament, having risen through the ranks of 17/U, 19/U and 21/U Championships in previous years.

Sommerville will be supported by midcourter Taylah Davies and defender Sophie Halpin who will make up the leadership group, with the 2014 side looking to improve on their third place finish at last year’s tournament.

18-year-old Tanisha Stanton brings plenty of experience to the 19/U State Team, having been selected for both Australian 17/U and 19/U squads, as well as having two Australian Netball League seasons under her belt with the Netball NSW Blues.

The midcourter will be supported by Vice Captain and defender Toni Anderson, who has made the step up in age divisions after running out for the NSW 17/U side in 2013.

In her debut Nationals appearance, Amy Parmenter leads the 17/U Team with Claire O’Brien and 2013 NSW representative Cassandra Radford named co-Vice-Captains.

Introduced by Netball NSW this year, the 17/U Development Squad have an identical training schedule as their 17/U counterparts, which will culminate in a two game fixture against one of the top secondary school teams in New Zealand, St Margaret’s High School, on Thursday 17 April at the Anne Clark Centre.

2013 NSW 17/U representatives Braeden Quince and Madeleine McCathie will lead the side as Captain and Vice-Captain respectively, lending their experience to this Development Squad.

The 2014 19/U and 17/U National Netball Championships will be contested simultaneously from Monday 7 to Saturday 12 April at Melbourne’s Waverley Netball Centre.

View interviews with NSW 19/U, 17/U and 17/U Development Coaches and Captains via NetballNSWTV;
NetballNSWTV: 2014 NSW 19/U Captain Announced
NetballNSWTV: 2014 NSW 17/U Captains Announced
2014 NSW 21/U Team
Kristina Brice – Baulkham Hills
Lauren Cantwell – Manly-Warringah
Taylah Davies (co-vc) – Sutherland Shire
Sophie Halpin (co-vc) – Eastwood Ryde
Maddie Hay – Sutherland Shire
Karli Ireland – Newcastle
Kristiana Manu’a – Liverpool City
Tiesha Ojeda – Sutherland Shire
Claudia Russell – Manly-Warringah
Phoebe Seamer – Newcastle
Amy Sommerville (c) – Eastwood Ryde
Donnay Van Taak – Sutherland Shire
Head Coach: Megan Simpson
Assistant Coach: Dianne Brown
Manager: Donna Harrison
Click here for 2014 21/U National Netball Championships Fixture

2014 NSW 19/U Team
Toni Anderson (vc) – Sutherland Shire
Alisha Cairns – Blacktown City
Olivia Doyle – Baulkham Hills
Natalie Eldridge – St George
Zoe Gilbert – Manly-Warringah
Billie Gurr – Manly-Warringah
Charlotte Jasprizza – Orange
Sarah Kitcher – Grafton
Courtney Richmond – Blacktown City
Tanisha Stanton (c) – Eastwood Ryde
Madeline Woods – Sutherland Shire
Lauren Yager – Sutherland Shire
Head Coach: Briony Akle
Assistant Coach: Colleen Mitchell
Manager: Narelle Stokes
Click here for 2014 19/U National Netball Championships Fixture

2014 NSW 17/U Team
Kiera Austin – Eastwood Ryde
Chelsea Bolton     – Illawarra
Prudence Ellis – Ku-ring-gai
Brooke Fennings – Charlestown
Leanne Grevenitz – Wyong
Kirra Jones – Illawarra
Kristin Kessler – Wyong
Lauren Moore – Wyong
Claire O’Brien (co-vc) – St George
Amy Parmenter (c) – Randwick
Cassandra Radford (co-vc) – Sutherland Shire
Loren Singleton – Baulkham Hills
Head Coach: Moira Gaha
Assistant Coach: Amber Cross
Manager: Deborah Kassing
Click here for 2014 17/U National Netball Championships Fixture

2014 NSW 17/U Development Squad
Madeline Anderson – Baulkham Hills
Amelia Basheer – Manly-Warringah
Chloe Chapman – Randwick
Meg Collins – AFL Riverina
Olivia Duffy – Wyong
Laura Henderson – Sutherland Shire
Sally Hunter – Hume
Madeleine McCathie (vc) – Randwick
Braedan Quince (c) – Sutherland Shire
Natasha Robards – Ku-ring-gai
Olivia Rowntree – Liverpool City
Kelly Singleton – Manly-Warringah
Mikayla Upton – Muswellbrook
Georgina Woods – Northern Suburbs
Head Coach: Leonie Stewart-Weeks
Assistant Coaches: Pate Cooper and Jaqua Heddle
Manager: Charlene Sommerville

Rob Wright and the NSW Swifts got the job done in their opening game of the 2014 ANZ Championship, overcoming a defiant West Coast Fever, 54-51, in front of a vocal home crowd at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre on Sunday.

After trailing by three goals at half-time, the Swifts surged in the third quarter to get back on even terms before a monster effort in the opening minutes of the final quarter – led from the back by Goal Keeper Sharni Layton (six intercepts for the match) – gave the home team the advantage they needed to seal victory, ensuring Head Coach Wright started his tenure as Head Coach on a winning track.

“It’s always good to get that first win out of the way, and against a really tough team… [It’s the] perfect start in terms of that we got the two points.  I guess the beauty of today was that there [are] certainly lots of things that we were far from perfect in; we’ll certainly go away and have to work really hard,” Wright said.

“I thought we stuck to what we were meant to be doing and grew into the game which was really pleasing.”

Debuting six new faces to the Swifts 2014 roster, Wright was pleased with the new combinations on court that built across the match.

“I feel like we saw [Susan] Pratley evolve today; that creativity, that movement combined with [Caitlin] Thwaites, who is obviously just a great shooting target in the circle. And those defensive combinations … grew across the game.”

2014 recruit Thwaites opened the scoring for the Swifts, slotting her first goal for the franchise.  The defenders were up on their toes with GK Layton and GD Sonia Mkoloma switching between Fever and Australian Diamonds shooting partners Natalie Medhurst (GA) and Caitlin Bassett (GS).

However it was the Fever who gained the early upper-hand with defenders Josie Janz (GD) and Eboni Beckford-Chambers (GK) forcing turnovers in the Swifts frontend to lead by three goals at halftime, 15-12.

The visitors got away by as many as six goals early in the second quarter as the Swifts new attack end took some time to settle.  Thanks to terrific backup support in the defensive end, plus intercepts from Kimberlee Green and Layton, the home side were able to inch back to within three goals at halftime, 30-27.

Fever hit the scoreboard first for the third quarter however pressure on the high ball won back possession for the Swifts and soon they were back within one goal.  West Coast weren’t to be deterred, and upped the ante again with some slick transition play to find towering shooter Bassett under the post, who quickly pushed the Fever back out to a four-goal lead.

The Swifts held tough and with some inspirational play between Green and Susan Pratley, the home side hit the lead for the first time since the opening minutes of the game.  A late goal to Fever captain Medhurst levelled the scores at the final break, 43-43.

It was a focused and confident Swifts side that hit the court in the final quarter, outscoring the Fever six goals to one in the first few minutes.  Tensions were high as unforced errors crept into the match from both sides, and it was the team that could keep their heads that would prevail.

With a performance that earned herself Game MVP honours, Pratley was steady going to the post and drained 10 goals from as many attempts to reward her defenders’ hard work and help the team start their season on a winning note.

The NSW Swifts now hit the road to take on the Mainland Tactix (Round 2) and Adelaide Thunderbirds (Round 3), before returning to their home court at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre to host the Queensland Firebirds on Sunday 23 March – tickets available from www.swiftstickets.com.au.

ENDS

Quarter-by-Quarter scores:
SWIFTS – Q1: 12 – Q2: 27 (15) – Q3: 43 (16) – Q4: 54 (11)
FEVER – Q1: 15 – Q2: 30 (15) – Q3: 43 (13) – Q4: 51 (8)

Shooting Statistics
SWIFTS: 54/63 @ 86%
Caitlin Thwaites: 25/30 @ 83%
Susan Pratley: 29/33 @ 88%

FEVER: 51/60 @ 85%
Caitlin Bassett: 42/47 @ 89%
Natalie Medhurst: 9/13 @ 69%

Starting Line-ups:
SWIFTS – GS Caitlin Thwaites, GA Susan Pratley, WA Paige Hadley, C Kimberlee Green (c), WD Abbey McCulloch, GD Sonia Mkoloma, GK Sharni Layton

FEVER – GS Caitlin Bassett, GA Natalie Medhurst (c), WA Chelsea Pitman, C Khao Watts, WD Ashleigh Brazill, GD Josie Janz, GK Eboni Beckford-Chambers

Positional Changes:
SWIFTS – Q2: WA Green, C Hadley.
FEVER – Q3 Timeout: C Shae Bolton, GD Chanel Gomes.