No doubt energised by the World Cup-winning efforts of their Australian Diamonds heroes, ninety-two of south-east Queensland's most talented junior netballers turned out at Bond University last weekend for Phase 2 of the Bull Sharks Cubs program.
The players - aged between 11 and 16 - were specially selected based upon their performance at a series of Cubs clinics run over several weeks at various Gold Coast netball Associations earlier this year.
Bond’s Head of Netball Operations Kim Boland, Head Coach Bec Stower, and a selection of Bond Bull Sharks Ruby and Sapphire players put the Cubs through a challenging range of skill and agility drills over three hours.
Boland said the program was designed to put participants through a stern test.
"Phase 2 sees selected players being challenged at a higher level," she said.
"We are looking at giving these athletes the skills to improve their game and give them a taste of how to train in the high-performance environment."
Peggy, a 13-year-old representative-level player for Hinterland District Netball Association at Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast, was extremely impressed by the first session.
“I thought it was a fun way to improve my netball and get to know new coaches who have different ways of doing things,” she said.
“It was a long session and really challenging physically, but even after just the first week I can already see how it will develop new skills to put in my toolkit.”
Sunday was the first of two court-based sessions. A third session will take place at Bond's High Performance Training Centre in Robina. There, athletes will work with our Bull Sharks Sapphire and Ruby strength and conditioning coach, Glenn Corcoran.
"Glenn is amazing at what he does and he'll put the athletes through their paces," Boland said.
"They'll be exposed to the weights floor, the agility floor, the high-altitude cardio chamber, the sauna, the steam room, and the recovery pools."
"We are really looking forward to seeing the athletes take the skills they learn and put them into practice when we finish things up with a Cubs Carnival against the Darling Downs Panthers and South Brisbane Wildcats on September 10."
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