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A total of 20 teams from local schools took to the court at Hibiscus Coast Netball Centre on Sunday, August 15 for a fundraising tournament.
The event was hosted by Whangaparāoa College’s Premier netball team, which was raising money to attend the Upper North Island Secondary Schools tournament (UNISS).
Players from Years 4-8 took part, well supported from the sidelines.
Most of the officials, including umpires, were from Whangaparāoa College, but 75-year-old Mike Hart (pictured left) was the standout exception.
Mike says he volunteered for the tournament so he could “come back home”. He lives in Helensville now, but started umpiring netball in 1996 at the Hibiscus Coast Centre and has a soft spot for it.
He first took on the volunteer role when his company sponsored a team, and were required to provide an umpire.
His career also included a spell at Stanmore Bay Pool & Leisure Centre, and he says it was there that he came off the sidelines to play netball for the first (and only) time in a social game with other staff.
“My knee gave out and that was the only time I ever played it,” he says.
Mike is well known at Netball North Harbour, where he umpires several games every Saturday.
UNISS takes place at the Howick Pakuranga Netball Centre this week.
