Forbes Netball has been awarded $2000 grant funding as part of Woolworths Pick Fresh Play Fresh Grants program to update the existing Forbes Netball canteen.

The grants support grassroots netball clubs and associations across Australia and are focused on helping young netball players get more healthy via fresh nutrition at training and on match days. Woolworths has now provided over $1 million in funding to close to 300 netball clubs in the past three years including Forbes Netball.

With only 4% of Aussie kids getting enough fresh veg in their diets. Sport and sporting clubs can have a huge influence. Something Forbes Netball life member Robyn Kenny is very aware of.

“Forbes Netball Association will utilise the Woolworths grant to reopen their can-teen to help their young players pick fresh and promote healthy eating habits on and off the court,” Robyn said.

“The canteen wasn’t meeting operating standards. The grant allows us to upgrade the lighting and rewiring as well as supply and fit a new exhaust vent. Basically all the electricals which we can’t operate without,” she said.

“We are nearing the finish and have applied for other grants and we are always grateful and appreciative of any support.”

Forbes Netball have partnered with Woolworths previously – even before it was built in Forbes. The Forbes Netball Association actually gave approval so Woolworths could have enough car spaces it needed to build at its current site.

“Once we are operational we have SSN (Suncorp Super Netball) players also providing some of their favourite recipes and our players will be able to then start doing the same as Australia’s best players.”

The Forbes Netball Association Under 17 representative team recently competed at the NNSW Hart Senior State Titles in Bankstown before Sydney was impacted by COVID restrictions.

The team was one of the youngest teams playing in the age division, made up of players turning 15 and 16 in 2021, and playing against experienced players who were 17 years old, making the assignment a tough one for Forbes.

The majority of players were representing in the State Championships for the first time, with only two players having any representative experience from younger years.

“The team competed in regional training carnivals in Forbes, Bathurst, Parkes and Dubbo. Unfortunately injuries plagued the team in the later stage of preparation,” coach Robyn Kenny said.

“The first day of the State Championships was a learning curve for the team, with Play-ers Player for day one going to Ava Walsh”. Day two saw the girls lift their playing intensity, with some great netball, and nail biting results. Players Player for day two was Lily Boyd.

Day three was by far the best of the three days, as the team kept improving their positional play, timing and support of each other.

This resulted in another two wins and some very competitive games in the other three games. Players Player for day three was Georgia Cole.

“Overall, this was an outstanding experience from all the preparation and training, then a fantastic weekend for all the girls to build up their friendships. Their team spirit was always at a very high level,” Robyn said.

“The girls were a first-class example of what playing netball is all about – building friendships, sportsmanship, team spirit, taking on challenges and never giving up in any situation. Congratulations to all the players, you were a pleasure to coach”.

With the Netball Autumn Comp wrapping up, dates for the Spring night competitions for juniors, mixed and ladies teams have been released. Nominations for teams close at the August meeting on Thursday August 19 while first grading games are Wednesday August 25 and second grading games are September 1.

Round one of the night competitions is September 8 while the last round of the competitions will be November 24 with finals on December 1.

Games will be played at 6 pm, 7 pm and 8 pm, as is inline with previous competitions and there will be no competition played during the school holidays.

The Junior Mixed Spring competition will be played at 5 pm and 6 pm each Wednesday night. Registration for players is $100 and this is free if you use the Active Kids Voucher. Ages for the junior mixed competition is from 8 years to 15 years.

The committee will be available for registration help and completed friends forms on Wednesday night August 18 at 5 pm till 6:30 pm. Players will be placed into teams, and everyone can choose a friend to play within their team.

Forbes junior mixed netball continues to attract new players to both programs that are running on Saturday mornings.

NetSetGo is for all players aged from 5 years to 9/10 years to learn the skills of netball and have lots of fun doing it. NetSetGo is played at 9:30am each Saturday morning.

Training for any players aged from 9/10 years to 13 years is held each Saturday at 10:30am immediately after NSG. This session is also training for the carnival teams that are playing on Sundays, for those players who are available on Saturdays. Although players playing in the carnivals must be registered with NNSW, anyone can come along on Saturdays and try the programs before they register.

When players register, the registration will carry through to the Netball Forbes Junior Mixed Competition that will be played in the spring on Wednesday nights, inline with the very popular adult competitions.

Wednesdays will be a family affair, when players will join the Junior Mixed competition and play at 5pm and 6pm, and the adults will play in the usual timeslots of 6pm, 7pm and 8pm. Parents have already volunteered to help run the Wednesday junior mixed competition so junior netball can be played in Forbes.

Teams have been entered into the Parkes carnival on Sunday.

The next carnival will be Bathurst on May 23, and entries close today (Friday). Dates for future carnivals after Bathurst are Dubbo May 30, and Orange or West Wyalong on June 6. Parents are asked to please check with team organisers for nomination closing dates.

Primary schools Gala Day
The annual Primary schools Gala Day that was postponed due to rain earlier in the year will be held on Monday May 24. If anyone can help, please email Secretary, Lyn at this email secretary.forbesnetball@gmail.com

Regional All Age Carnival
The Forbes Netball Association hosted their annual Regional All Age carnival on Sunday, with numbers showing a great support for the day in Forbes.

Over 500 hundred players played more than 260 games of netball during the action packed day. Teams travelled from all parts of the state from West Wyalong, Temora, Gilgandra, Leeton, Orange, Dubbo, Cowra, Blayney, Griffith, Parkes, Cootamundra, Junee and Forbes.

The carnival was cancelled last year because of COVID and players of all ages made up for the lost year. Thank you to Forbes Shire Council for preparing the grounds at Stephen Field so the carnival could be played.

Junior Mixed Netball
The Tri Towns Tournament scheduled to start this week has been cancelled. Parkes Netball committee informed Forbes last week that they were withdrawing from the competition, and a meeting with parents was held and it was decided to move the Forbes Junior Mixed Netball competition to mid-week.

The Junior mixed competition will be run on a Wednesday night, in line with the very successful Spring senior night competitions. Games will be played at 5 pm and 6 pm starting in August and the competition will continue through the spring.

NetSetGo
NetSetGo will continue each Saturday during the winter months at 9:30 am for one hour and will be a stand-alone program. Players aged 5 years to 10 years can join in the fun of NetSetGo and learn all the skills ready for competition games.

The Forbes Netball Autumn night competitions are in full swing and proving very popular for all the players.

There are players still wanting to play. If anyone is looking for more players for their teams can they please let us know.

Night competitions for both mixed and ladies teams are lots of fun, and exercise is also a bonus.

All teams are reminded that the Forbes All Age carnival will be held on Sunday, and all teams must be entered by Wednesday night.

Carnival nomination forms and entry conditions have been emailed to all the team representatives.

It only costs $33 per team to enter for a full day of netball fun. Teams can be made up from any player who is registered with NNSW, to play on the day. There are grades to suit all teams.

Last week, some teams still played players who were not registered and will forfeit their games. Teams that forfeited are FPS, Ball Busters, Schofields.

Could the team representatives from these teams please come to the office on Wednesday night, and check who still needs to pay the full registration.