Canterbury Netball has once again held a very successful Summer Camp for players aged 13 – 15 years in Christchurch. This year the camp ran from the 15th-18th January and accommodated 120 players and 19 coaches from across the country at Canterbury University’s College of Education campus.

Coaches came into camp the night before the players arrived to fit in as much as coach development opportunities as possible. NNZ’s Player Centered Coaching and Game Analysis modules were delivered on this first night. Sue Harris (NNZ Coachforce) spent the 5 days helping to assist the coaches with their individual development, Sue did an amazing job with the coaches and it was appreciated by all.  Coaches also took part in Sports Trainer, Primary Care and First Aid Officer Accreditation modules over the remaining 3 days. Megan Crocket (NNZ Netballsmart Coordinator) was also on hand during the camp to assist coaches by providing practical advice regarding warm ups, recovery sessions and injury prevention. Players were exposed to programmes offered by the XLR8 team, and also strength and conditioning sessions from Lincoln University’s recreation centre staff, all of which helped our coaches with ideas and planning for the future.

The XLR8 session was a 2hr practical speed and agility workshop was facilitated by Jamie Tout (Coaching Director), Amy McIndoe and Sam Lemalies. It was specifically focused around sport speed skills for netball, including footspeed, decision making and reactive strength. The workshop provided a great insight into the physical requirements of netball… and was a lot fun!

The jam-packed programme included: netball and position-specific training sessions which were run by our attending (and some invited) coaches; sessions coached by Tactix players Ellen Halpenny, Anna Galvan, Hannah Poff and Peta Stephens; workshops looking at nutrition, recovery and training schedules for individuals; a presentation by Tactix players Victoria Smith, Hayley Crofts and Ashleigh Smith on playing in a semi-professional environment and a sensational talk by Sam Warriner on goal setting and over-coming barriers. I know that everyone involved in the camp gained an enormous amount from the variety of presentations that were on offer this year.

As has been the case in previous years for the coaches involved, new friendships were formed, old ones rekindled and far too much laughter (and food) was had by all.

Passion, enthusiasm and dedication of those coaches who volunteer their time and energy to attend never ceases to amaze me.

If you’ve never been involved, I encourage you to find out how you can be by contacting Amy McKay at: rdc@canterburynetball.org.nz . Don’t let the fact that you live outside of Christchurch put you off – this year we had coaches attending from Auckland, Tasman and Southland as well as ‘locals’.  

If you have been involved as a coach this year or in previous years, take a bow and congratulate yourself on a job well done – this camp is talked about, laughed about and reminisced over by players (and coaches!) for years afterwards.

Quotes from Coaches:

Kim McLeish (Coach)
I am positive I got just as much from the camp as the players, which was excellent.  The speakers and specialist coaches were very inspiring and informative for players and coaches alike.  The whole camp had a buzz around it as everyone was there for the same reason, Netball.  Fun and hard work were both high on the agenda.  The camp is well run with people there to support you every step of the way.  We had many opportunities to listen and see other people’s ideas while up skilling ourselves at the same time.  Would I do it again?  Yes most definitely.

Sharon Shaw (Coach) I had an absolute blast and enjoyed every minute of it and learnt new skills and met great coaches.  The experience on the whole was perfect and I don't think you could of done anything more to improve it. The girls were great and all said they would return and I hope you will let me return and hopefully bring my daughter.