Some of the Highlands most promising young netballers have been given an opportunity which will help them further improve their already impressive skills.
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Four Southern Highlands girls have been awarded scholarships for the Illawarra Academy of Sport (IAS) for 2019.
Olivia Bow, Summer Lewis and Jemima Graham-Wansey from the Southern Highlands Netball Association (SHNA) and Sienna Campese, who plays in the Illawarra, were all selected for the netball program.
Olivia has been involved in the sport for many years.
During that time she has represented Bowral Public School, SHNA and played in Oxley’s Firsts team.
“I like being competitive and being around everyone else who loves the sport,” she said.
Athletes in the program will receive extra training sessions from IAS coaches and will compete in a couple of carnivals next year.
The Academy Games will be held in April and later in the 2019, they will compete against other academies in NSW at the Netball Challenge.
Olivia’s elder sister has also been through the IAS program.
SHNA competition coordinator Kate Bow said the scholarship was a great opportunity for all players to improve.
“It’s really good for the girls to be able to play harder competition. It’s hard for you to get better unless you get pushed,” she said.
Olivia said she hoped to meet “more people that love the sport like I do” during her time with the IAS and also find the best pathways to grow as a netball player.
Summer Lewis followed in her older sisters’ footsteps and started played netball at the age of five.
“Before long I developed a passion for the game. I like the speed of the game- as a centre court player I get to cover a lot of the court. I like competition,” she said.
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Since she first took up the sport, Summer has played in Southern Highlands representative teams, division one for Campbelltown’s representative side at the State Age Championships and ISA for Chevalier College.
She was selected in the ISA under-15s team in 2017 and 2018 and was also selected in the ISA opens team to compete in the Inter State School Challenge held in Gold Coast in October this year where the team placed second.
Summer said she was pleased to get the scholarship and looked forward to improving her skills.
Just like the others, Jemima Graham-Wansey first started playing when she was young as part of the Net Set Go program.
She then played with Moss Vale Dragonflies before moving up to play for the Highlands association.
Jemima said she loved the way the game was played and the people such as coaches and umpires who made it an enjoyable sport to be a part of.
“I just really want to improve my netball skills and become the best netballer I can be and go as far as I can,” she said.
“I’m just very thankful I’ve been given the scholarship.”
Sienna Campese has been playing netball for the past seven years and she too started the sport from a young age.
“I started when I was young. My parents introduced me to all different kinds of sports,” she said.
“I think it’s a very technical game. All positions have different roles and you have to work together as a team.”
Sienna has experience with representative netball, being picked in Illawarra’s under-15 development team this year and also made a state team in South Africa.
As well as the extra training sessions, Sienna said the athletes in the program would receive a deeper understanding of what life as a professional athletes was like, including aspects such as handling the media and nutrition.
“I am very grateful to have it [the scholarship]. I did not expect to make it and was very surprised. But I’m happy I’ve got the chance.”
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