The Victorian Fury will travel to Port Moresby tomorrow in preparation for the inaugural Women’s Day Netball Tri-Series against the PNG Pepes and Singapore National Team at the Sir John Guise Stadium.
An initiative of Netball PNG and WaterAid PNG, the invitational event will see three competition rounds held from Saturday 5 – Monday 7 March in celebration of International Women’s Day on Tuesday 8 March.
Netball Victoria is delighted with the opportunity to send Australian Netball League premiers Victorian Fury to Papua New Guinea, following the successful visit of Netball Victoria staff and Melbourne Vixen Liz Watson in December 2015.
Netball Victoria CEO Michelle Plane said that the tournament was a great chance for Victorian Fury to prepare for the 2016 Australian Netball League season and, more importantly, support a critical project that works to empower and champion the rights of women and girls.
“Netball is a great platform for bringing people together, sharing their commonalities and embracing and learning about their differences. Netball helps grow strong communities and whether in Australia or PNG, it is these communities that can then work on supporting and addressing the key issues that affect the health, wellbeing and opportunities of their community members,” said Ms Plane.
“We are both proud and humbled to be able to support the work of our partner WaterAid and new friends Netball PNG, and congratulate their initiative, endeavour and commitment. We look forward to being a part of this event and the future developments it will help bring forward.”
Victorian Fury Head Coach Cathy Fellows is looking forward to the Women’s Day Netball Tri-Series and believes it will be a good opportunity for the team to gain experience at an international level.
“For the majority of our athletes this will be their first exposure to international netball and the varying playing styles of other countries,” said Ms Fellows.
“To play international teams in their home environment is not something that can be replicated in training so it will be an invaluable learning experience and an important step in their pathway as elite athletes. We are really excited about the challenges these games will bring and the opportunity for our athletes and support staff to develop as both individuals and as a team.”
2016 Victorian Fury Team to travel to PNG
Catherine Fellows (Head Coach)
Donna Monteath (Team Manager)
Robyn Dawson (Assistant Coach)
Julia Allan (Team Physiotherapist)
Mikaela Vaughan
Elle Bennetts
Ella Bayliss (nee Priestley)
Tayla Honey
Danielle Phillips
Demi Woodlock
Matilda Hipper
Rahni Samason
Jaqueline Newton
Brooke Allan
Umpire
Tim Marshall
