We love all kinds of sport at Greater Bank, but we REALLY love our netball.
Whether it’s encouraging more kids to play for a team as part of their local association or sponsoring Regional Academy programs for players seeking higher honours, we’ve been supporting netball at many levels for over three decades.
We’re now delighted to confirm that we are again extending our support to netball on the Coffs Clarence Coast, through partnerships with the Lower Clarence and Coffs Harbour Netball Associations.
Coffs Harbour Netball Association President, Tanya Slaverio, said the 2023 season has already started with a bang.
“We had six teams travel down to Charlestown in Newcastle in early March, with three finishing in first place! That’s a great achievement for a regional town like Coffs,” Tanya said.
“Our senior women’s winter competition is already in full swing with 31 teams taking part, which is six more than we had at this time last year.
“The seniors have two seasons each year, with the winter competition finishing in June, and the second season running from July to December.
“We also have an eight-team mixed comp currently underway, which will be a full 14-week season for the first time, while our junior competition is now underway with healthy player numbers in those age groups as well.
“The support we get from Greater Bank is extremely valuable as it enables us to keep registration costs as low as possible, which is important as insurance costs have gone up significantly this year.
“We’re also planning to buy a large trolley to make it easier for our mostly female volunteers to install and remove the protective padding that goes around the goalposts, which has to happen before and after each day’s play.
“In addition to Greater Bank supporting us, we now also support Greater Bank having recently shifted the Association’s banking to the Greater after many years with another bank!”
Lower Clarence Netball Association Secretary, Tania Kane, said they’re hoping for a less dramatic season than the past few years.
“We lost out clubhouse in the floods last year, so we’ve had to replace pretty much everything,” Tania said.
“That’s where the support from Greater Bank makes a huge difference for us as we’ve had to start over.
“The various challenges over recent seasons meant it was impossible to go ahead with the usual fundraising activities like our canteen, so we’re extremely thankful for the ongoing Greater Bank sponsorship.
“We’ve used that money to buy new pads for the goalposts on our five courts, which makes a big difference to player safety.
“Everyone is excited to be getting back into netball, especially after the pandemic and the weather saw rep netball all but written off over the past few years, so we’re also looking forward to that going ahead this year with no significant interruptions.”
The Lower Clarence season started on March 18 and will run until late September, with 34 teams from the region’s three clubs: Maclean, Yamba and Iluka.
Click here to find out more about Greater Bank’s support of netball.