Griffith Netball under 17s heading to Sydney to compete in State Championship

Heading into three-day carnival coach Carlene Stevenson said the team is coming into shape.

“They aren't looking too bad and they gel really easy,” she said.

“They have been to four carnivals and they have come first at Queanbeyan, third at Wagga, third at Orange and first at Griffith, so we are looking fairly strong.”

It is quite a young side which means Stevenson will have a similar side next year.

“They are division two at stage age,” she said.

“They are all bottom aged bar one which is Jessie Brown so I should have the same team roughly again next year with some other juniors coming in.”

The side has been training hard in anticipation and Stevenson has praised her team work ethic.

“We train twice a week for this term and they are doing really well they train really hard the majority of the time,” he said.

“But like all teenage girls they don't always, but I have been really happy with how they have performed this year.”

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the team as they lost one of their top age players early in the season though an achilles injury.

“We lost one player (Sasha Blumer) due to an achilles tear earlier in the season,” she said.

“So we have brought in Lucy Preston who was our shadow player.”

The side are preparing to make the trip to Baulkham Hills which will see them take on a heavy schedule.

“ It will be a Saturday, Sunday and Monday of playing netball and I think in those days we have 20 games it is very full on,” she said.

“It is pretty much half-hour on half-hour off which all the teams do.”

Stevenson wanted to thank the parents who make commitments where ever necessary.

“We have some from boarding school, so they actually travel home on a Friday night to Jerilderie and Lake Cargelligo so they have a long day,” she said.

“It is a big commitment from they and they have awesome parents.

“They are really amazing and support the girls with whatever I ask them to do which is really good.”