FT Kilburn Netball Club Blog

Posted on 12. Mar, 2010 by Editor in ForestryTas

By Melinda Williams - President, Kilburn Netball Club

The opening of the Aurora League season was held at the Silverdome last weekend. All nine teams in the competition participated over the weekend, with most playing two games. Forestry Tasmania Kilburn’s first game was scheduled at 6pm, directly after Premier David Bartlett officially opened the season.

We were all very excited to be taking this big step for our club – it has taken us more than 10 years to get a licence to play in the senior Aurora League competition. During this time we have seen promising young players come through our junior development program, only to move to another club when they reach this elite level as we weren’t able to offer the opportunities they sought.

We are very proud of the fact that our 19 and Under team is made up of players who have been with us through their junior competition years, some since they began playing as Under 11s. The 19 and Unders were the first to take the court against the TCY Northern Saints. The Saints are an experienced combination with most players currently in state representative teams. Forestry Tasmania Kilburn took some time to settle and develop a rhythm and some confidence. Several missed scoring opportunities meant the Saints were able to get a jump on the scoreboard. Kilburn fought back with tight defence and greater movement and improved accuracy in the goal circle. Saints ran out winners by 3 goals.

Our open team were looking forward to getting out on the court as a unit….unfortunately this was not the weekend to do it! Kiri White (now Van Duiven) had organised for her wedding to be held on Saturday as the competition has usually started a week later. So, Kiri was in Hobart looking gorgeous for her wedding and was joined by Jade and Chloe depleting our senior numbers by three. Laura Poynton joined the team for the night and several 19s players took the court to boost the team numbers. The Saints started strongly and dominated the scoreboard throughout the match. Forestry Tasmania Kilburn showed some flashes of strength which they will aim to build on throughout the season. TCY Northern Saints took out the mach by 41 goals.

It was a hard weekend but we learnt a lot and aim to improve on our performance next time around.

Next week will be extremely tough for Kilburn as we meet St Lukes Karana Flames, who were 2009 Premiers in the 19 and Under competition and Finalists in the Open competition. These matches are being held at Aurora Sports Stadium in Hobart, the 19 and Under game starts at 6pm on Saturday with the open game following.