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Rodney College Year 12 student Isbe Kuinikoro (Ngāpuhi) has won a place in the Aotearoa Māori Netball Secondary Schools squad.
The team will compete in the Pacific Rim Tournament in Hawaii in September and Kuinikoro was the only Te Tai Tokerau player to make the final cut. However, her inclusion was nearly stymied by injury.
Two trial events were held – the National Tournament in New Plymouth at Easter and a Trials Camp in Wellington last month.
Kuinikoro, who plays goal defence (GD) and wing defence (WD), fractured her right hand and couldn’t play in New Plymouth.
“Luckily I was spotted during training so was invited to the trials in Wellington,” she says.
Trialists had the opportunity to engage in fundamental movement and positional specific skill sessions with specialist coaches across the day followed by match play.
Head coach Ngarama Milner-Olsen is excited about the potential and direction Māori Netball is moving towards.
“We want all our kōhine who are part of this kaupapa to walk away with a positive experience and with something to work towards,” she says. “It is important that we continue to support and track our kōhine who didn’t make the squad, as this is equally important.”
From an organisational perspective, national netball manager Ashleigh-Kate Araroa-Waerea was pleased with how Māori Netball was tracking.
“We are still in a rebuilding phase with players having had limited opportunities since 2019,” she says.
“This cohort of players has missed out on two years of national tournament and opportunities to engage in development programmes due to covid but the talent is there and the potential is strong.”
The squad will re-group over Matariki weekend next month.
Kuinikoro says she doesn’t know what her netball future will be, but her long-term aim is to become a sports physiotherapist.
She currently plays for Waipu in the Whangarei competition on Friday nights and for Rodney in the North Harbour comp on Saturday mornings.
She says Pip Smythe, of Mangawhai, who coached her in Year 8, had had a big influence on her netball.
