Nine of Bathurst’s brightest young netball stars have taken an important step in their representative journey by being selected in the Western Region Academy of Sport's 2020 netball program.
Lara Abbott, Taliyaha Chatfield, Hope Coombes, Keira Copeland, Sarah Dickerson, Lilli Mooney, Mimi Taylor and Hannah-Lee Williams will all be part of this year’s Academy netball squad, while emerging athlete, Bronte Cullen-Ward, will be part of the extended satellite training program.
The girls joined the full squad of 29 at the opening orientation weekend at Lake Burrendong on 8 and 9 February where they participated in a number of activities encouraging bonding, communication and relationship building.
Following this camp, the squad will come together regularly over the coming months at various locations across the Central West and will train under the guidance of head coach Linda Mcleod, who was recently awarded her Elite Level Coaching Accreditation by Netball NSW.
The Academy’s netball program plays a vital role in the Netball NSW Athlete Pathway by identifying, monitoring and developing the skills of young netballers. The program will consist of on court skills training, fitness and athlete education, as per the Netball Australia Develop a Diamond program.
Greater Bank will also continue its association with the netball program in 2020, after becoming its major sponsor for the first time in 2019. Head of Marketing and Customer Experience, Matt Hingston, said the partnership is about more than just providing a financial benefit to the Academy and athletes.
“Greater Bank is proud to continue its partnership with the Western Region Academy of Sport’s netball program. We took great delight last year in seeing the dedication of the players and the coaching staff and look forward to being part of their representative journey in 2020,” Mr Hingston said.
“Our partnership however provides more than funding to help offset the program costs for the athletes. This year we will also be conducting financial literacy education sessions in association with the University of Newcastle that will assist the athletes in their personal development off the court."
Matt Hingston, Greater Bank Head of Marketing and Customer Experience.
The nine players will train with the Academy squad in the lead up to the 2020 Junior State Titles to be held in Sydney in July where they will represent the Bathurst Association in their respective age groups.
In April, they will represent the Hunter at the 2020 Academy Games at Maitland Basketball Stadium and later in the year will travel to Orange for the Greater Bank Academy Challenge where they will compete against 12 regional sporting academies from across the state.