The Christchurch Netball Centre ran its annual Summer Camp at the Lincoln University campus at the weekend. It’s aimed at players aged between Year 10 to 12 and this year Mid Canterbury had four players in attendance – Ashlein Lyttle, Jasmin Strawbridge, Hayley Tallentire and Taylor Shaw – along with a couple of coaches, Claire Tappin and Natalie Shaw.
Lyttle and Shaw are both heading into Year 10 this year, while Strawbridge and Tallentire were part of the College A side which won last year’s Mid Canterbury Netball premier one title, and all four made the most of the opportunity, soaking up everything that was on offer.
The camp covered both the physical and mental side of the game, and delved into other important areas like wellness, recovery and loading, and ran from Friday through until Sunday.
A number of big names were on hand to pass on their knowledge. Specialist guest coach Kerrianne Farrelly originates from Christchurch but has spent a number of years coaching in Queensland, including coaching the Australian state’s under-19 team and the USC Thunder, and she is regarded as one of Queensland’s best coaches.
Last year’s Mainland Beko national netball league coach Ronelle Van Dongen, and her former assistant who has now taken over coaching the side - Ashburton’s Andrea Cousins - were also there along with current Mainland Tactix head coach Marianne Delaney-Hoshek, and former Tactix coach Helen Mahon-Stroud.
A couple of non-netballers were also brought in, including current Black Caps cricket coach Gary Stead and former Black Stick and Olympian Shane Collins.
Players also had the opportunity to have a question and answer session with current Tactix players Jess Prosser and Ellie Bird.
