Maitland's best young netballers are set to take on teams from across the state at the NSW netball age championships for July 7-9.
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Maitland under-12, under-13, under-14 and under-15 teams will be taking part in the division two titles at Narellan.
It is the final championships in the current format with under-15s going to the senior titles from next year.
The championships are the culmination of an almost six-month campaign by the teams, which began back in February with weekly training sessions and included regular carnivals across the Hunter and beyond.
Maitland Netball Association president Kim Starkey said were as much an endurance test as a test of skills with the teams playing several games a day over the three-day tournament.
The girls play games of two 12 minute halves with a five minute break and then have a 30 minute break between games.
Starkey said the girls had a really good lead-up with several carnivals including three in Sydney against metropolitan teams.
“They’ve been trying to get a fewer tougher games under their belt before they get down to Sydney for the championships,” she said.
“They’ve had an excellent year with fitness coaches and we have also had a really strong coaching core this year.
“All of the teams have a coach, assistant coach and a team manager which with 10 players makes for good improvement.
“Probably the hardest thing for the girls is physically having to play three days of netball. The day starts from 6am, fatigue is the biggest thing against them.
“If they can get through the stress of the three days, all four teams should vie for a top 10 finish.
“I think our 12s and 14s are some of the strongest teams we’ve sent in the past few years.
“All the teams have played well but those two groups have been strong from the start. They could even get top four if they play to the best of their ability.
“They’ve been really sharp at their carnivals and show some really good skill.”
Kurri Kurri and Cessnock are also sending multiple teams to this years titles.
Kurri Kurri have under-12, under-13 and under-15s in division four. Cessnock has under-12, under-13 and under-14 teams in division three and under-15 team in division four.
Cessnock netball’s Erin Fairlie said the turnaround in Cessnock netball had been amazing over the past four years.
“We have gone from not sending a single representative team to the state age championships four years ago. This year we also sent an open age team to the state titles.”
Maitland netball takes a two-week break and returns on July 21.