Netball fans from around the country will be able to stay in tune with the country’s leading secondary school netballers with all matches at the NZ Secondary Schools Netball Champs being live streamed thanks to a partnership with Sportway for the event .
New Zealand’s top 16 school teams will converge at Ngā Puna Wai in Christchurch tomorrow for the start of one of the sport’s most popular events on the domestic calendar.
First established in 1993, the national secondary schools’ event is an important pathway for Netball NZ and the sporting body has teamed up with Sport way to ensure supporters in all corners of the country can catch all the action live streamed into their homes or to their device.
Pool play begins tomorrow where teams, split into four pools, will vie for a top eight spot where cross-over match-ups will take place on Wednesday and Thursday to determine positions for Friday’s final place playoffs.
The tournament has attracted six of the best schools from the Upper North Island and five each from the Lower North Island and South Island.
Defending champions Avondale College are again coached by former Samoan representative and New Zealand U21 representative Rachel Rasmussen. They finished third in 2022 but stepped up last year to claim their first title in 21 years when they edged Saint Kentigern College by one goal in Auckland last year.
Saint Kentigern College face a tough opening day and their match-up with last year’s fourth placed team, Columba College will be a game to watch. The southern secondary school, based in Dunedin, is coached by former Silver Fern Jodi Brown and has been steadily rising through the school ranks in recent years.
A number of former elite New Zealand players will be courtside to guide the cream of secondary school talent including Belinda Colling who will coach St Hilda Collegiate while another former Fern April Ieremia is back with Westlake Girls’ High School. NZSS coach Pelesa Semu returns to grassroots netball to coach St Mary’s College, the team from Wellington finishing third last year.
The final of the NZ Secondary School Netball Championships will be on Friday, starting at 1.40pm.
Live streaming and the draw can be accessed by visiting https://www.netballnz.tv/en/home