Griffith Netball to represent Australia

After winning Griffith glory with a first place finish at the Australian University Games in 2015, the Griffith University Women’s Netball Team are ready to show off their skills on an international stage. The team has been selected to represent Australia at the 2016 FISU World Netball Championships in Miami, Florida in July.

The team will head to the USA to compete against 11 other countries for the title of World Champions over five days of competition from 13-17 July. The Griffith University team’s selection to represent Australia is a source of particular pride for the Gold Coast campus with ten of the twelve players, and two members of the management team enrolled as Gold Coast students.

The selection reflects the high calibre of the team who were undefeated at all Australian University Sports events in 2015 (including Australian Uni Games and the Northern Uni Games). The team includes several players from the Golden South Jaguars in the Queensland State League as well as Queensland representatives in the under 21 division. The Griffith team has been together for almost two years with only minor changes to the roster.

Ashley Ngauamo has been sidelined due to an ankle injury but she will travel with the team as a Team Manager. She says that the team are ecstatic about the selection.

“We’re pretty excited to be going to Florida. The fact that we get to represent Australia, that doesn’t happen every day. It’s what you aspire to as a netballer, to wear the green and gold dress,” she says. “It’s nice to be able to achieve that, especially with our group of friends because we are pretty close outside of netball as well.”

With just over two months to prepare, the team is hard at work training and seeking financial support to get the team State side. So far the team has obtained financial support from the Griffith University Gold Coast Student Guild, Griffith Sport and Griffith University to offset some of the costs.

The Guild will assist the team to seek additional sponsors. Through GUGC Sport, the Guild has also provided funding to help them secure the services of a Level 3 accredited coach, Christine Vogue, to help them prepare for the event.

“We’ve just brought on board a coach from outside of our uni group and she’s put a plan together. We’re doing two court sessions a week and then three gym and fitness sessions, split between Gold Coast and Brisbane so we’re pretty busy five days a week on top of everything else,” Ashley explains. “The aim is just to refine the skills we have and become a bit more cohesive as a team. It’s good to have someone new on board – to see what you’ve been doing and how you can improve.”

Back in Australia, you will be able to watch the team in action via live streaming at worlduninetball.com/world-university-netball-tv/live-streaming/

2016 Australian Team

  • Courteney Chapman
  • Peta Coles
  • Chany Harrex
  • Rylie Holland
  • Cara Koenen
  • Leah Middleton
  • Michelle Newgrosh
  • Kristen Oxenford
  • Ruby Paton
  • Denise Pepe
  • Bree Purvis
  • Cheryl Renagi
  • Christine Vogue – Coach
  • Harriet Nash – Team Manager
  • Ashley Ngauamo – Team Manager

Compare

Scroll to Top