The much anticipated Strength in Unity St Mary’s Sports Club (SMSC) SUPER 4 netball tournament begins today, Wednesday 1st December, 2021 at the Tuanaimato Multipurpose Gymnasium.
Having been in training since the competition launched four weeks ago, the four sides are ready to take to the Court in what promises to be a night of action-packed quality netball. The Avila team will play Orleans at 6pm followed by Aquinas and Deporres at 7:15 pm.
The tournament is the first of it’s kind in Samoa, where top players and coaches of Samoa’s Netball League have been divided into 4 teams, assuring a high calibre of competition between the sides over the next three nights, with the finals on Saturday morning.
The competition is a level-up opportunity to further the development of netball talent in Samoa, and promote the values of unity, partnership and fair play in netball. The tournament slogan being ‘STRENGTH IN UNITY’ reflects this harmony.
President of the St Mary’s Sports Club, Ms Lita Lui said the competition highlights the importance of being innovative and giving back to the netball community through promotion, development and growth of not only the sport itself but more importantly the young up and coming netball players.
“Strength in unity is a guiding principle we would like the next generation of players and administrators to continue. It will ensure that we further strengthen inter-club relationships and build unity amongst clubs and players,” said Ms Lui.
“We also hope this would
provide a platform to support growth for Samoa’s local netball players to be able to be part of the national netball team selection”, she adds.
The four netball teams have been allocated an all female coaching team, and paired with sponsors of local business who’ve put their hand up to support grassroots sports development.
The identification and selection of the coaches and players was made from the six A Grade teams that competed in
the 2021 National Netball League Tournament.
The names of the four teams are based on the official house titles
and colours at St Mary’s college.
Monalisa Tofilau from the St Mary’s Sports Club will coach the Avila team. Look out for them in yellow colours sponsored by Café 10. Avila is captained by Annetta Iakopo.
Rumanusina Maua from SCOPA club will coach the Orleans team sponsored by Tapa Creations. The blue side is captained by Tovale Solinuu.
Tafaoga Tavae from the United Souls Netball club will coach the Aquinas team, in red and sponsored by TV3 Samoa. Vienna Schmidt and Rosabel Tuatagaloa are co-captains of Aquinas.
Erika Chan Ting from the Marist Netball club will coach the De
Porres team. The green side are sponsored by Pacific Ezy money transfer and captained by Tamisha Lei Sam.
Tournament Draw:
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