Teenage rep Netball in Queensland

[teaandthesea]

Hi all, We're seriously contemplating moving to the Gold Coast. My daughter, 13, is netball mad and plays at County level here. Does anyone know how the performance level netball works in Gold Coast/Queensland. Are things done via schools or clubs? When are trials? Is the level much higher there than here?

Any info gratefully received as I can't get my head around how it works.
Thanks

Try posting in the Aus and NZ board here, you might get more replies. We are in NSW and things vary a lot between states so I am no help. DD played netball until she finished school. Private schools in Sydney usually expect school sport to trump club but there are a lot of clubs around so I don’t know what happens if you are really good. Not sure what your DD’s ambitions are but I don’t think she would be able to play at National level if she wasn’t a citizen. Good luck.

It's been a while but here is what I remember.

Netball is not competitive in schools until high school (Gr7 - age 12/13). Two avenues are private school comp
https://qgsssa.com.au/
School sport - rep programme - works on a coach nomination system.
https://southcoastschoolsport.eq.edu.au/

You would need to play club netball, with your local club. I believe (but I may be wrong) - you can only trial for rep once you have played a minimum number of rep eligible games
https://qld.netball.com.au/
Gc rep association https://www.facebook.com/ngcnarepnetball?mibextid=ZbWKwL

Our netball season is in the winter (for club). Sign-on in early Feb.

So in answer to your question - your dd would need to play a season of club netball to then be eligible to trial for a representative team (you may get a relaxation but would have to be applying now for the next season)

If she only plays school and district rep, then she would be confined to that comp.

Lots of children play school, club and then club rep. If your plans are for this year you will need to get your skates on.

One last link:

https://www.ngcna.com.au/repnetball

I am in NSW, so also can’t answer specifically for QLD, but netball is huge here. A lot of schools have teams, as well as the local town clubs. Some towns have more than netball one club. Growing up I played for both my school and a club on Saturdays, and then ad representative teams via both the club and the school.

My nieces love to play - they now play on Saturdays and then spend Saturday afternoon/evening watching the very competitive Super Netball State competition on TV (Australia and NZ) and the national team play when they have games.

Sounds like the Queensland Firebirds will be your daughter’s idols :) They have a good website, if you google them. The players are listed and the names of their original clubs and junior clubs.

As PP said, Netball is the thing here. I admit, I had never heard of Netball before moving to Australia, but I learnt real quick.
I am sure she will find a competitive team easily.

My sister lives on the Sunshine Coast and netball is really popular. She still plays and her daughter is in the same club. There's lots of coaching clinics and practises. I couldn't believe the skill level of early teen players and their heights. Some of the girls were well over 6ft tall !
There will certainly be competition for your daughter.

There'll be both school and club competitions. Private schools might have a serious league, public not so much - probably just one regional and (if qualifying) state tournament per year.

I'm not in Qld but we have (very roughly) a winter season (April to September) and summer season (October to March with a break over school holidays). I would assume that's the same everywhere.

There'll be a local netball association (where the courts are) which will put you in touch with member clubs seeking players, and each association will select representative teams for higher level competition. Some clubs will be bigger and more serious than others and will run selection trials, others will just pop her wherever feels right and she can go from there.

This is all helpful info, thank you all.

ChiefEverythingOfficer - those links were perfect, thank you.