Netball Australia is proud to announce it will be providing high-performance support to the Pacific’s top netball teams through a partnership with the Australian Government’s Office of the Pacific.
Working in partnership with the Australia Pacific Sports Linkages Program, Netball Australia will be supporting the high-performance training needs of Fiji Netball, Netball Samoa, the Tonga Netball Association and Netball Papua New Guinea.
This will include providing assistance to Netball Samoa and Fiji Netball as they prepare for the 2019 Netball World Cup, and similar support to the Tonga Netball Association and Netball Papua New Guinea as they prepare for the 2019 Pacific Games.
The Australia Pacific Sports Linkages Program will deliver $40 million in grants over five years to support the development of Pacific sport, enhancing Australia’s engagement with the Pacific through our shared love of sport.
Netball Australia CEO Marne Fechner is delighted that Netball Australia is able to be a part of this initiative while assisting elite netball development within Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Papua New Guinea.
“Netball Australia is pleased to be able to extend our support for the growth and development of netball internationally, particularly given that netball plays such an important role in strengthening communities and providing opportunities for girls and women to shine throughout the world,” she said.
“The Australia Pacific Sport Linkages program will have a significant impact in supporting performance outcomes for netball in Fiji and Samoa in their lead up to the 2019 Netball World Cup in Liverpool, as well as PNG and Tonga as they build for the Pacific Games in July.
“The program builds on our commitment to the Pacific region, where we have been working for the past five years as part of the Australian Government funded Pacific Sports Partnership Program (PSP). This has included working with communities at the grassroots level to address physical inactivity, as well as inequalities experienced by women and girls.
“This new package of work with DFAT’s Office of the Pacific takes our support to the elite level – ensuring we are supporting quality netball outcomes at all levels in the Pacific.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs the Hon Senator Marise Payne says the program will enrich Australian sports by bringing new and diverse talent into our sporting codes, increase participation and encourage the development of elite sports in the Pacific.
“As part of our Pacific Step Up, the Government has established the Australia-Pacific Sports Linkages Program in Fiji, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu, to strengthen our shared connection to sport,” she said.
Netball Australia’s support to these Pacific countries will involve high-performance training camps in Australia, including match play against Australian teams.
The program will also see Netball Australia develop high-performance coach training resources and content that addresses key areas of intermediate coach development, as access to such resources has been identified as a key challenge and roadblock in developing elite netball in these countries.
The coach development resources Netball Australia will prepare and share with these countries will be developed with an understanding of the needs of the Pacific region and will be tailored to support both online education as well a face-to-face education.
It will also update current Pacific coaching resources at grassroots levels to reflect recent updates in the Netball Australia Coach Accreditation Framework.
For more information on the Australia Pacific Sport Linkages Program, go to https://dfat.gov.au/geo/pacific/engagement/Pages/stepping-up-australias-pacific-engagement.aspx
