Netball Fiji chief executive officer Vivian Koster says she is happy with the performance of their academy players in the National Academy Netball Tournament at the FMF Gymnasium yesterday.
The three-day tournament featured a total of eight teams, which includes two institute of sports teams from Australia and six local teams.
“Looking at the performance of our academy players over the past few days, we are proud of what we see because we know they have grasped what we have been teaching them in the academy,” Koster said.
“We have our under-17 and under-19 teams taking part in the tournament, and we are happy with the performance has been coming along.”
She mentioned the tournament serves as a selection process for the Baby Pearls Under-21 side to the Netball World Youth World Cup Qualifier next year.
“So, from this tournament, we will be selecting players for our national side to the Netball World Youth World Cup Qualifier and the following year, 2025, we will be competing at the World Cup.”
Koster said the tournament had been running smoothly over the past two days with everything going according to plan.
“Everything has been going according to plan, there hasn’t been any issues with the games whatsoever.”
Meanwhile, with the last day of the tournament to be held today, Koster urged all participants to give their best when competing.
“This will be their last chance to prove themselves if they hope to be part of the national team.”
Koster added having two Australian teams in the tournament had intensified the level of competition among the local players.
“We can see that the level of competition among our players is very high, and this is good because it makes our players perform at their very best.”
