Cooks ready for the Under 21 championship

Robert Matau



Watch top seeds New Zealand and England battle it out for netball supremacy, while the unknown elements have the potential to spring major upsets at the World Youth Netball Championship in August.
But you can put your money on the host nation Cook Islands to pull out their own surprises as they will not want to let their local fans down too.
New Zealand will defend the World Youth Netball championships this year against the rest of the world after winning the last title in Florida four years ago.
Rarotonga will host over 240 of the world’s elite young netballers and their supporters.
Twenty teams from all over the globe will be competing for the title of being the best Under 21 side in the world. All the teams invited have indicated their participation except for Canada which has withdrawn. Replacing Canada will be Botswana.
“From Europe, we have England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, from Asia we have Singapore and Malaysia, from Africa we have Malawi, Botswana and South Africa, from the Americas, we have USA, Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago; and our Pacific cousins, Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and defending champions, New Zealand,” she said.
“Finally, and most importantly, we have our own Cook Islands team, fresh from their excellent results at the recent warm-up series held in New Zealand.”
But Australia Under 21 coach Simone McKinnis believes Jamaica, Australia and England have what it takes to make it to the finals of the championship which kicks off in Rarotonga on August 11 until August 21.
The Australian side scored a 3-0 series victory over the Jamaicans this year at the G.C. Foster College in St Catherine.
New Zealand, England, Australia and Jamaica, are seeded in that order, based on the results at the last World Youth Netball Championships held in Florida in 2005.
All the other teams, including the five Pacific teams (Fiji, Cooks, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Samoa), were drawn out of a hat to make up the 4 pools of 5 teams each for WYNC 2009.
Donye Numa, one of the main organisers of the Cook Islands event, said their own U21 team, with players based in New Zealand and Australia, has completed a tri-nations tournament in New Zealand against South Africa, New Zealand and Fiji.

World Youth Netball Championship Groupings Pool A: New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados Pool B: Australia, Cook Islands, Malaysia, Wales, Vanuatu Pool C: England, Fiji, Botswana, Samoa, South Africa Pool D: Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Malawi, Singapore, USA

“It was the first time the Cook Islands girls had come together as a team and there was a large turnout from the Cook Islands communities to add the ‘Kia Orana’ spirit which we are famous for.
She admits that finance is their biggest hurdle and to overcome this challenge the Cooks team has had to hold a number of fundraising events.
Numa also revealed that the Cook Islands’ U21 team also plans to take part in the Pacific Netball Series (PNS), in Samoa comprising the top four Pacific netball playing nations – Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
“It is hoped this will become an annual series, hosted on a rotational basis amongst the four islands nations and it will be used as a qualification standard for the 2010 Commonwealth Games,” Numa said.
“Every opportunity for Pacific nations to participate in international competition will be advantageous to those Pacific nations.”
Numa said construction of the Multi-Sports Complex despite the poor weather is progressing well and should be completed in June—at least four weeks before the championship begins.