The Under 21(U21) PNG Pepes development squad trials and selections recently held in the city of Port Moresby, saw a good number of girls from different provinces included girls that came all the way from Gulf Province, participated.
The training camp for the U21 Pepes Development Squad began earlier this year in March and consisted of young athletes that were selected from a selections camp that was held in October 2022.
According to Coach Oti Sarufa, the girls underwent attacking and defending drill strategies, to train them to master critical thinking and execution during their games. The final selection listing is expected to be out tomorrow, Friday November 3rd.
“We’re looking at skills. Their games sense during a match and the basic understanding of the game is very important and that is what we are looking for in an athlete.”
Sarufa explained that if a player had put down center and wing attack, she would have to play in the center position first and then in the next game, play in the wing attack position for the selection committee to see how well she played in both positions.
“We put everyone to play in the two positions that they had opted for, so we made sure that everyone played two games to be seen.”
Mr. Sarufa said that the selected team will be going to Brisbane at the end of November for a training camp and a competition that’s organized by Richanda Kassman and Kelly Hynes. Both are a part of the Netball Queensland High Performance that were invited by Netball PNG to help run the camp.
“She was also part of the camp with Netball Queensland High performance coach Kelly Hynes that are helping us to organize that side of things, so we’re really looking forward to November.”
The selection committee will be working on the final selection list as well as their reports to the High-Performance Manager, Mrs. Iammo Launa before she sends it to the Netball PNG board for their endorsement.
“By Friday we should send a list together with the camp report with the supporting documents like the fitness testing reports and other things that the girls have been going through, like the player assessment and analysis of what they did during the training camp.”
Sarufa mentioned that there were also players with experience of training at a top level like Wame Andrew and Alexandria Ligo who were also in the camp and brought a challenge to the juniors that were now in the development pathway.
“We’re looking at it as U21 Development Squad because not everyone is on the same level. Not everyone is equal so that’s basically why we’re preparing our athletes to help boost them in their selections.”
Meanwhile, Sarufa stated that the athletes were told to do their own training while awaiting the endorsement but is confident and looking forward to what is to come.
She added that another focus of the squad will also be on the Oceania Youth Qualifiers, which according to the Netball Calendar will be held in September 2024 in the Cook Islands and hopes that the team gets endorsed so they can go into training.
“I’m just looking forward to this group of athletes that we select. That’s the focus of this training camp and what we are going to do moving forward in lead up to the games in Cook Islands.”