Netball WA congratulates the 11 WA players selected in the Netball Australia Netball Centre of Excellence Squads for 2020, including the Australian 21/Under squad selected ahead of the 2021 Netball World Youth Cup.
While the Netball World Youth Cup has been postponed, preparation of the Australian squad will continue to ensure ongoing technical, tactical, physical and psychological development of the group as they approach the benchmark event.
Selection of the 17U, 19U and the 21U squads was conducted differently this year after the National Netball Championships, where selection is normally made, were cancelled due to COVID-19.
National selectors have since worked closely with state representatives within the National Institute Network to finalise the squads, assessing each athlete based on a range of attributes, focusing on current and potential performance.
WA will be represented across all divisions, with Abbey Hicks, Chelsea Cook, Cleo Kenny, Trinity Rond and Ruth Aryang selected in the 17U squad.
Giselle Taylor, Brooke Repacholli, Ella Sigley and Chelsea Bartlett have been selected in the 19U squad, and Sloan Burton and Sunday Aryang have been selected for the 21U squad.
Netball WA CEO, Simon Taylor said: “This is a great achievement for our players who have worked tremendously hard to earn selection in such a challenging year, where many events were cancelled due to COVID-19 and it’s great news to see things returning back to normal.”
With squad selection now complete, Netball Australia aims to deliver training camps in late 2020 (dates to be confirmed) to ensure players maintain access to competition and development opportunities.
The 2020 17/Under and 19/Under camps will be led by Netball Centre of Excellence Head Coach Michelle Wilkins and the 21/U camp will be led by Australian 21/Under Head Coach Kylee Byrne.
Wilkins spoke of the immense talent within the Netball Australia pathway this year.
“Selection of these squads wasn’t an easy process due to the depth of talent we have coming through our system. We have even seen some of our athletes within this group starring on the Suncorp Super Netball court this season,” she said.
“While it has been a challenging year, it is our priority to ensure we are constantly nurturing and developing the talent coming through the Netball Australia pathway and we look forward to bringing everyone together later in the year for our training camps.”
Dates for these training camps will be confirmed in coming weeks.
The International Netball Federation is yet to confirm a re-scheduled date of the Netball World Youth Cup but it is expected to be in late 2021 or early 2022.
Below is a list of the following WA athletes selected:
17U
Ruth Aryang
Chelsea Cook
Abbey Hicks
Cleo Kenny
Trinity Rond
19U
Chelsea Bartlett
Brooke Repacholli
Ella Sigley
Giselle Taylor
21U
Sunday Aryang
Sloan Burton
