For Kim Boland, one netball team isn’t anywhere near enough.
Boland oversees the game at Bond University as Head of Netball Operations. She also coaches Bond University’s Ruby netball team.
But that’s not all.
She manages Bond’s junior skill development ‘Cubs’ clinics and looks after emerging and Indigenous talent programs.
And since October last year she’s been busily preparing the 10 members of her U12 Hinterland District Netball Association (HDNA) representative squad for the State Age Championships held in Townsville last week.
After slogging it out in northern heat, Boland’s brave young cohort won their age group’s top division without dropping a single game over the four days of competition.
They also managed to complete the entire lead-up representative carnival season undefeated.
“The kids were extraordinary,” Boland says. “They listened and learned, and despite a few close shaves along the way we managed to achieve something very special together.”
The State Age Championships is the first taste of serious competition for young netballers.
Hundreds of teams and thousands of players from all corners of Queensland compete.
On weight of player numbers alone, winning a State Age Championship is incredibly hard but not uncommon for Gold Coast-based associations like HDNA.
“HDNA have claimed a number of championships in recent years and had a particularly successful championship this time around,” Boland says.
“Southport-Carrara and Northern are always strong. But the smaller associations like South Coast and Tweed did pretty well this year too. The Gold Coast as a netballing region is extremely well placed for young talent.”
A number of Boland’s current Ruby and Sapphire Bull Sharks have emerged out of Gold Coast association representative netball ranks.
These include Dakota Newson, Ocean Karekare, and Abby Boland who have all played with HDNA; Olivia Mallard who has represented both Southport-Carrara and HDNA; Joesi and Jorja Gisinger, Lily Phillips and Holly Buckley who competed for Southport-Carrara; Abi Houston who played for South Coast, and Elka Macaulay and Tehya Hyssett who both rose through Northern Gold Coast Netball Association’s representative system.
Boland says it’s only natural that Bond University maintains a connection with the game’s grass roots.
“Club players become state age representative players,” she says. “Representative players become Bond Bull Sharks Ruby and Sapphire players or maybe even Bond University students down the line.
“It’s important that we stay visible to kids so they know there are rewards for the efforts and talent. We want them to know we are accessible. We want their parents to know we are invested in the development of the game and that we want to see their children thrive.”
Boland has a longstanding coaching connection with HDNA which is based close to Bond University in Mudgeeraba.
“We moved to the Gold Coast from Toowoomba where I’d been involved with Highfields & Districts Netball Association. HDNA became our new association. I kept up with some junior coaching, and my daughter Abby started playing in HDNA representative teams.”
Abby has since been picked in a Queensland U19 squad and is currently a Bond University Bull Sharks Ruby goal shooter and goal attack.
“Netball is an incredible community,” Boland says. “And club and junior representative levels of the sport are significant nurseries for senior levels of the game.”
“It’s important that participants in elite levels of netball never lose sight of that. It is absolutely vital that we build strong bridges with the sport at community level.”