THE Grasshoppers Netball Club is reaping the rewards of developing netball at grassroots level.
In the past few years, the club has been conducting development programs on student netters and even organised its annual invitational international tournaments here and celebrities of the sport to help develop and expose its young players.
The club won the Suva Netball Association Princess and Development grades during the New World Suva Netball Knockout tournament at the National Netball Centre.
Club founder and head coach Alumeci Sachs, an accredited Australia Netball foundation and development coach, said Fijian netball would be competitive internationally if development started from the grassroots level and rural areas.
“It is satisfying when we practise what we preach . We are so happy in developing a structure within our Grasshoppers Netball Club to achieve our goals,” Sachs said.
“Majority of our players in the winning Princess and Development teams had been part of the Brisbane and Sydney, Australia tours in the past four years. The tours were part of our Grasshoppers Netball Club training program.
“We had been preparing for the Suva Netball Knockout for the past two months. We had our tracks trainer Bola Tafo’ou, a gym trainer, assistant coach Isikeli Tuwai, manager Sainimere Tarogi, president John Sachs, the players parents who are very supportive and Sportsworld. “We are successful because we have dedicated and supportive people who believe in helping children.”
