ACTION: Round 3 of the Twilight competition was packed full of action.
CENTRE PASS - Young netball news
THIS week Centre Pass watched the international match between the Australian Diamonds v Silver Ferns at Allphones Arena in Sydney on Sunday, October 21, 2012.
There was a great atmosphere at Olympic Park, because in addition to hosting a major netball event, it was the end-point for cyclists in the Spring Cycle event, a ride from North Sydney to Olympic Park.
Netball fans, were surrounded by a crowd of cyclists who had completed their race and were enjoying the market stalls that were part of that event.
There were some other interesting sights on the way to Allphones Arena, including watching some Bicycle croquet.
In Bicycle croquet, the players have 10 seconds to complete a shot and as the name suggests, they were on bicycles while playing croquet.
Also performing at the entrance to Allphones Arena, were the Telstra Netboys, an all-male dance troupe that performs a contemporary dance routine, while holding netballs.
It is easy to question the logic of Telstra sponsoring a group of young men to dance with netballs, but when a friend of mine described them as “male cheerleaders” it all made much more sense.
Their choreographer is Anne Delves and she has worked with famous performers including Lilly Allen, Danni Minogue and Guy Sebastian.
There were also photo opportunities with team mascots and a booth where fans could have their face painted with green and gold, to support the Diamonds.
The whole place was buzzing with an excited atmosphere in the lead-up to the game.
Inside Allphones arena, each fan was treated to a visual spectacle, including fireworks and flame throwers.
There was also a competition where four fans were chosen to sit in comfortable lounge chairs at the top of the netball Court, only metres away from the action.
The popular Sarah De Bono sang the Australian National Anthem.
Then as the players took the Court, the sounds of “ Lose Yourself” by Eminem and the iconic introduction to “ We will Rock You” signalled the start of the game.
The Diamonds establised a lead of 10 points in the first quarter and then continued on to a convincing win.
The final score was 68-48. Australia won the game by 20 points.
It was a record win and there has not been such a margin for twenty years, since 1992.
For Centre Pass, the highlight of the match was seeing the Goal Shooter, Cath Cox, score so many goals with ease and accuracy. She stood out as the best player amongst the other world-class players. Susan Pratley, played Goal Attack and also performed well throughout the game.
Of course, then it was back to Young and the local netball competition on Monday night.
Thank-you to those Managers who have been completing forms to nominate stand-out players each week.
In the game between ATC’s v The Pretenders, Carlie Gault played an outstanding game, she is an accurate goal shooter and showed some brilliant moves around the Court during the game.
When Yes, Yes, Yes played The Legends, the stand-out player was Claudia Graziani. Well done, Claudia.
This week, in the game between the Northern Stars v BB El Grando, the stand-out players for the Northern Stars were Brett Humphreys, Damien Collins and Annette Alexander. Also from BB El Grando, special mention goes to Geoff Palmer, who scored some goals from long distances in the ring, which requires ability and accuracy.
The Young District Netball Association is busy fundraising for our representative season and will be hosting a barbecue at a number of different locations in town over the next few weeks.
This weekend you can find us at the Aldi store on Saturday, so come along and support us.
Netball Trivia this week:
Did you know that Cath Cox is 36-yearsold? She was born in New Zealand in 1976 and moved to Australia when she was sixyears- old.
Thank goodness for that! She is an Australian netball legend.