It was an incredible three days at CNC's Summer Camp 2020.

Sixty-eight athletes, 8 coaches and a support team at the three-day camp at Lincoln University focussed on the development of Micro Skills with both the athletes and coaches.

Head Coach for the Camp, Kerrianne (KC) Farrelly, is a favourite with coaches and players alike.  While she hails from Christchurch, she now practices her trade in Queensland within the wider Firebirds environment. With her firm but fair delivery, her ability to share her exceptional knowledge and experiences in netball and her passion for development she was always going to be the perfect fit with our camp for a second year in a row!

The camp was also supported by Netball Mainland’s Coach Lead, Deb Johnson and ACC NetballSmart Development Officer Hannah Coutts. Lee McKenzie, CNC’s Game Development Convenor also provided support for our coaches and athletes, as well as our two interns Mikayla Gillespie and Oliver Grant.  It was a highly experienced and helpful team that ensured we maximised all development opportunities for our coaches and players. We were also very appreciative of the umpires who joined us daily to officiate over game play.

It was a great start to Camp with the girls being greeted on arrival by Tactix players Ellie Bird and Jess Prosser.  After receiving their goodie bags, the hard work began.

On day one, we had training sessions lead by Marianne Delaney-Hoshek and Ronelle van Dongen.  We also took the opportunity to bringing in Ronan Naicker from Mainland Football to take the athletes and coaches for some Futsal training – new transferable skills were learnt from this, benefiting all.

The teams finished the day with a 'Switch out' style of game play allowing all to implement the skills they had been working on during the day.

To wind down at the end of the day, the teams worked on their massage techniques, which was much needed after a long day.

However, after some rest it was time to get going again!  We started day two early with a great Zumba session, lead by one of our CNC members, who is trained in Zumba delivery.  A perfect way for the athletes to get ready for the intense day ahead.

On day two, we had training sessions lead by KC, Lee McKenzie and Andrea Cousins. We also had the CNC Interns lead a session that demonstrated to the players how they can maintain their strength and fitness without using the gym.  Also, Hannah was able to show the athletes great ways to ensure they are building strength to enable them to be landing properly reducing the risk of injury.  And even with a busy day, we managed to fit in a session on nutrition.

The night meal came with a special 'Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner' angle.  The athletes and coaches all had turns asking our special guest yes/no questions to determine who was hiding under the sheet and paper bag.  It didn’t take too long to confirm that we were lucky enough to have the Black Caps coach Gary Stead, joining us.  Gary very kindly slotted into his extremely busy schedule dinner and a Q&A session with us all.  The athletes asked some great questions, and it was fantastic to gain insight into another sport at a high-performance level.

The night went from strength to strength, with a truly inspirational guest speaker following on.  We were extremely lucky to have Dr Shane Collins join us – a former Black Stick and Olympian, also having been on the national board for Hockey as well as being the CEO for Canterbury Rugby League, a Police Officer reaching the Inspector rank and the first female to pass the armed offender’s course.  She also has a doctorate in Sports Policy and currently holds a senior role in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Shane was able to give the coaches and athletes some great insights around the power of sport, the need to give back and the importance of balance.  She was a speaker that made us all think internally about the way we conduct ourselves and the way we choose to make the most of our opportunities.

After everyone was packed up on Sunday, we had training sessions lead by KC and Helen Mahon-Stroud.  We then moved into our final mini tournament where all teams got to put into practice their learnings from the weekend.  It was great to have the parents and supporters join us too, and I am sure they were all well entertained by the final match of the day, a team selected players took on the coaches in a game of Walking Netball, where the coaches came out on top!

At CNC, we are pleased that we have been able to provide this development opportunity for so many athletes and coaches across the whole Mainland Zone. We are currently working through all the feedback we have received and working out what to keep doing and what to add in for next year!

A massive thank you from Christchurch Netball Centre to all those involved, and we look forward to providing more development opportunities throughout the year.

If you have any questions or ideas you would like to discuss around Summer Camp, please do not hesitate to contact Kelly via email.

Article added: Tuesday 21 January 2020