March 27, 2024
Netball diversifies to grow participant
The president of Netball New Zealand says a willingness to diversify is helping the game thrive.
In May, the organisation will mark the centenary of the game as the number one sport for women and girls in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Tina Karaitiana says its latest annual report shows 8 percent growth even as other codes are falling off, and it continues to attract a high percentage of Māori and Pasifika players with its whānau approach.
She says as society changes the sport has to change. “We’ve had business house netball for a long time. We’ve had twilight netball. We’ve had beach netball. What we’re doig is diversifying our game to suit the audience out there and I think that is what Netball is doing realy well in my opinion,” Ms Karaitiana says.
She’s looking forward to heading for Rotorua over Easter weekend to support the annual Māori netball tournament.