L-R: Cyrus Medora, CEO of Netball Singapore, Mr Ivan Lim, Director, Corporate Communications & Investor Relation, M1, and Ms Jessica Tan, Member of Parliament & President of Netball Singapore. (Photo courtesy of Netball Singapore)
Kallang, Wednesday, January 20, 2017 — Netball Singapore will provide more competitive play for elite student-athletes.
Through the M1 Zone Age Group Programme, Netball Singapore will choose 12 players from each zone for both the C (14 and Under) and B Division (17 and Under) after the end of the National Schools Championships.
These 48 players from each division will get a chance to compete in the National League, and play seven to eight games over two months under the National Age Group coaches.
In addition, the National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI) will give players court training and weekly strength and conditioning sessions.
In 2016, 186 school teams started the year in the Zonal B and C Divisions. Of this pool of over 2,200 players, only 15 players per age group (14&U and 17&U) were selected for the National Age Group Squads.
This new scheme, with M1 as the main sponsor, will provide a larger base of players to choose from for the national teams.
After the National League ends, Netball Singapore will choose 12 players from the zone teams for the National Age Group teams (14&U and 17&U).
They will have intensive training for a four-week period before playing in a series of competitive matches against equivalent Malaysian age group teams.
Separately, Netball Singapore will form a new 19&U Tertiary squad in addition to the 19&U Schools team, to cater for polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) student-athletes.
The 19&U Schools team will play in the ASEAN School Games, while the 19&U Tertiary team will compete in a series against the Malaysian 19&U team.
“M1 has been a partner of Netball Singapore since 2009 and we thank them for their tremendous support in the schools programme, elite programme and corporate netball,” said Jessica Tan, Member of Parliament, President of Netball Singapore.
“The sponsorship of the M1 Zone Age Group Programme will help netball in Singapore progress further as it enhances the elite selection pathway. It is our aim that this will provide a good base of talents and develop better players who will in turn, be our Singapore National Players,” she added.
“We are happy to see our long-term partnership with Netball Singapore grow the Singapore netball scene from strength to strength,” said Mr Ivan Lim, Director, Corporate Communications, M1.
“The M1 Zone Age Group programme, in delivering more playing opportunities to our promising netball talent, will enable them to scale even greater heights.”
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