For over 45 years, the Moe & District Netball Association (MDNA) has been providing countless opportunities for those within their community to play netball. Throughout the years there have been some difficult times, however they are now flourishing.
In 2008, the Association had to make the tough decision to replace the Board due to members declining rapidly. With a new administration team in charge that brought fresh ideas to implement, the Association grew from 29 to 49 teams over the winter season alone.
In 2014, MDNA won the Netball Victoria Large Association of the Year award, due to their hard work in rebuilding and rebranding the Association, on top of the fact that they achieved their greatest junior participation rate in the Association’s history. 2014 also saw MDNA run the largest NetSetGO program outside of metro Melbourne; a huge achievement in anyone’s books.
Moe & District is exceptionally proactive in implementing new programs being run to ensure opportunities exist for everyone within the local community to participate in netball. Some of these programs include NetSetGO, Rock Up Netball and now Walking Netball is also on their radar.
The Association has also been able to foster their athletes’ development through the Netball Victoria pathway. Over the past 12 months, they had three athletes recognised in Netball Victoria’s Talent Identification program, and have also had several athletes that have continued to be involved in the sport post their playing careers, in roles such as umpiring, volunteering and coaching.
Moe & District’s biggest achievement to date, however, was when they lobbied Federal Government in 2017, and received $800,000 for the development of their facilities, which included a new pavilion and 10 courts. The Association were officially handed over the keys to the new facilities on February 28 this year, and they proceeded to run their first competition the very next day, which saw over 20 teams and 350 people in attendance for their round-robin Voyage Cup tournament.
Unfortunately, they haven’t been able to get much more use out of the facilities due to the current health pandemic, but they promise when this is all over that they will be back!
