The Hunter Academy of Sport (HAS) Greater Bank Netball Squad has pushed through a busy start for 2019!
The squad is currently on a break from the Academy program and taking the time to focus on training with their local clubs and representative teams in the lead up to Junior and Senior State Titles.
Hunter Academy of Sport CEO, Brett O’Farrell, said it’s an extremely busy time for the girls and important for them to take a step back in terms of Academy obligations to focus on their recovery and broader netball commitments.
“This is a critical period of the season for our athletes. Their netball load is at its peak with school, club, representative and metro league all in competition to have these talented athletes on court.” said Brett.
During the break, the squad has been lucky enough to spend some time on court together during their ASPIRE Netball sessions with Sam Poolman, refining their basic skills, wellbeing and all-important recovery techniques.
The girls also demonstrated their talents and cohesion as a team during the Your Local Club Academy Games at Maitland Basketball Stadium in April. The two-day Greater Bank Netball Tournament featured close to 300 aspiring netballers aged 14 to 16 years, representing 11 NSW Regional Academies. HAS fielded a strong team of players at the tournament, with Jemma Lucas and Meg Southcombe being awarded honourable merit for their respective divisions.
The HAS squad will return to Academy training in early September, where coaches will focus on refining more tactical positioning ahead of The Academy Challenge. Supported by Greater Bank, the three-day tournament will be held in Orange from 28-30 September 2019.
The Challenge weekend is a great opportunity for the girls to put their best foot forward against quality opposition and test their newly developed skills. Hunter will again be entering two teams to compete this year.
We’ve worked hard on incorporating additional strength and conditioning, as well as speed and agility drills into our program and have noticed significant improvement in the girls and their ability to compete against other teams who have dominated in the past
Brett O'Farrell, Hunter Academy CEO.
“Off court education in areas of sports psychology and decision making has also featured heavily in preparation and training for the squad in the lead up to the arduous tournament and our coaching staff are excited to see how this newfound knowledge will transfer to their on-court performance.”
We wish all the athletes competing in the Academy Challenge later this year the best of luck and look forward to hearing of their success.