When Rhonda Martin-Raharuhi chanced upon an opportunity in 2016 to send her daughter Kahu to a netball tournament in Fiji, she decided that the experience was so good that more Mangonui Netball Centre (MNC) junior netballers should be able to experience it as well.  So she started a new netball club called the Far North Netball Movement with an aim to send a team back to the International Netball Festival in Fiji in 2017.

Rhonda’s kaupapa for this netball club was based on player development; teaching them the skills required to play at this level as well as knowledge on physical preparation, nutrition, team work and leadership.  Including whanau was also very important in this whole process too, not only for the fact that they had to fundraise money to get to Fiji but also that she had the buy in of parents to join them on their netball development journey.

The Far North Netball Movement team is made up of year 7 and 8 students who play in the local junior competition hosted by Mangonui Netball Centre.  As the girls progressed through the training programme they found that they needed to be challenged more and were approved to compete in the centre’s secondary school grade on a Thursday evening.  Although they weren’t playing for any competition points, the chance to push themselves against older more experienced players saw their developmental progression improve to the point where they started winning games.  They had several players make the year 8 MNC representative team, they competed in club tournaments and participated as a group in other sports codes too. All of this put them in good stead for their upcoming international event.

Throughout the whole season Rhonda has been the driving force behind the team. Being the Coach Coordinator for MNC has allowed Rhonda to see the benefits of upskilling and personal development.  She received her Community Coach Award last year and is working towards the next stage as both a coach and as a coach developer.  She was recently recognised as a finalist in the Netball New Zealand Volunteer Coach Award.

The team returned to New Zealand with a second place trophy, new netball friends, respect for another culture and lots of great stories to tell their whanau.  Well done girls and congratulations Rhonda on your very busy year.