Start up for season 2013

The season is well and truly underway with a number of  things happening.

Planning for the season was greatly impacted by the timing of the court redevelopment and subsequent availability of courts. At worst we only have 8 courts during construction so game times have been adjusted hence you have seen a few empty courts. As construction gets underway this will change. The Board decided to set times for divisions from the start so we wouldn't have to keep changing them and confusing people.

Redevelopment construction starts in the velodrome from Monday 8 April. First stage is primarily for upgraded drainage and construction of temporary grass courts. I plan to record and upload a video log of redevelopment progress to a YouTude channel - search for Caboolture Netball.

Cost to the association for redevelopment is $115000. There will be additional cost for seating later on.

Upcoming courses and clinics;
Foundation coaching - 28 April (register on the NQ site)
Lynx player development - 12 May at a cost of $25 (registration form on CNA website)
Laura Geitz clinic - 23 September at a cost of $47 (register at www.laurageitz.com.au/clinics )

Our rep teams have been training well with their first day carnival played recently at Sunshine Coast Netball a success, five out of nine teams coming away with trophies. Next carnival is Southport on 21 April.

The  Mount Franklin Challenge competition has started with our U16s having a draw 38 all in their first game. Our Opens team had a bye first round and are yet to play their first game.

Monday and Tuesday night ladies competitions start soon - from 15 & 16 April. Further details are available on our website.

Who would have thought...

It seems far more people read this Blog then I thought. I have to apologise for not keeping it up to date and I will try to do better from now on.
Also, make sure you comment or ask questions. I am more than happy to answer questions about issues impacting Caboolture Netball.
In coming weeks I will try to provide updates on;

• court redevelopment,
• a thursday morning ladies comp,
• our men's challenge team and a possible junior men's clinic and
• constitution modernisation and committee restructure.

Let me know of any other issues you might like me to provide information on.

Happy Netball

One down, one to go!

So, the first of the elections has passed. Steve Dickson: Minister for National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing has been announced. He is almost local coming from Buderim and we have a new local MP, Darren Grimwade who is also a local of Burpengary. Ex-rugby League referee Tim Manderhas been named as the Assistant Minister for Sport and Racing, so maybe we will see more of him than Steve Dickson.

Either way, I look forward to meeting all of them if the opportunity arises, particularly Darren. I will look on with interest as the LNP sports initiative Get in the Game unfolds given our current redevelopment proposal advancing to final detailed planning and costings by mis-April.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Mark Ryan for his contributions to the community as our local member over the last 3 years. Mark has been a hard worker and has been there to help out Caboolture Netball Association on more than one occassion, particularly following the floods in 2011.
It was Mark that brought the then Minister for Sport and Recreation, Phil Reeves out to Caboolture to inspect the damage first hand when all the news outlets were talking about Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and every other part of the state but Caboolture. This led directly to the funding for repair of our courts, so thanks Mark.

Now, probably more importantly we wait to see how the Council elections pan out.

So, some quick updates;

March-past on 17 March was a great success with great weather (meaning no rain) and a huge turnout of both players and family. We have grown again this year with an extra club, Naranga Dynamos moving across from the Pine Rivers Netball Association. This gives us a total of 96 junior teams playing on a Saturday. Netball Queensland tells me we have grown 23% since 2008, keeping ahead of state averages so we may be one of the 10 biggest associations in Queensland by now.

Last Sunday, the 25th March we took almost all of our rep teams (U17s didn't go) to their first carnival of the season at Metropolitan Districts Netball Association at Cooparoo. Again we had great weather,teams generally performed well for their first outing and we came away with one runners-up trophy in nine divisions, but had two others that missed out on count backs. This was also the first outing for our new rep uniforms and all the girls looked fantastic. Our gold colour is unique amongst all of the reds, greens, blacks and blues which certainly helps them to stand out.

Both the ladies night comps have had their Summer Finals now, with Monday Indoor already into their Winter season. Outdoor starts on the 17th April.

We have two teams playing in the Mount Franklin Challenge (previously Schweppes Challenge) comp at the State Netball Centre this year - U16 will play Division 1 and for the first time we have an Opens team that will compete in the 2nd Division. That comp starts in a few weeks, after Easter.

Don't forget Laura Geitz, star defender of the Firebirds and Australian Diamonds is coming to Caboolture on 17 May from 4.00 - 6.30pm. You can register for the clinic on Laura's website. Cost is $45 per player.

Upcoming Netball Queensland coaching accreditation clinics hosted at Caboolture;
13 May -  Foundation Coaching
2 June - Development Level Coaching

That is about it so enjoy your Easter break and see you for round 3 of fixtures on 14 April.