IT will be a David versus Goliath-type challenge for two Sunraysia netball teams entered in the state titles this weekend.
Facing 18 other regions across Victoria, including metro areas, the under 17 and under 15 girls are, however, looking forward to the challenge
Ahead of the championships at Parkville’s State Netball Centre in Melbourne, the Sunraysia girls flew down on Friday.
Sunraysia state title officer Alana Mills said winning had never been the priority at the event but the experience was always valuable given the array of talent that always shownd out.
“It really is a great platform for the kids to play against the best kids in the state throughout the weekend,” Mills said.
A majority of the players representing Sunraysia are from the SFNL but a total of four associations make up the region, the three others being the Mildura Netball Association, Millewa Netball Association and Robinvale Netball Association.
“When you look at some of the list of associations these regions can pull from, they might have 20 associations and 1000 kids to choose from,” Mills said.
Molly McDonald and Ashleigh Goss were named regional captains for Sunraysia and both will play in the under 17s team.
“We definitely think we’ve been taking steps forward by having kids stay in the program,” Mills said.
“Molly and Ash have been involved for a bit now and we like to have two top-aged girls lead the squad.”
The two 10-player teams will be led by experienced coaches Lisa Mangan (Mildura) and Michelle Beswick (South Mildura).
Mangan will coach the 17s while Beswick is set to lead the 15s.
Netball Victoria’s state titles games begin on Saturday morning and run all weekend.
A total of 18 games will be played by both teams.
