Kitcher first local to be picked in CHS team in seven years

Sarah Kitcher defends at the NSW CHS netball championships.

Sarah Kitcher defends. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED. Picture: Ian Knight (SMP Images)

SARAH Kitcher is following in highly accomplished footsteps as a NSW Combined High Schools netball representative.

Kitcher played out of her skin at the NSW CHS Championships at Coffs Harbour last week to captain North Coast to fourth place - its best ever finish.

Playing goal keeper and goal defence, she became the first North Coast player selected for NSW CHS squad of 12 since Verity Simmons in 2007, and prior to that, Verity's sister Marley Simmons in 2004.

Both have gone on to bigger and better things in netball, Marley as a coach in the ACT and Verity preparing to play her first ANZ Netball Championship finals series for Queensland Firebirds.

Having bucked the trend as the only country-based player selected, Kitcher is headed in a similar direction.

FLYING HIGH: Sarah Kitcher leaps above the pack for North Coast at the NSW CHS netball championships at Coffs Harbour. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

"They don't look at Country teams. I didn't expect to even be considered," said Kitcher, who has represented North Coast CHS the past three years.

Kitcher and her teammates made it impossible for selectors not to notice with a stirring 23 to 22 win over eventual champions Hunter on the final day of competition.

"We beat the team that was undefeated and led the whole way," she said. "Everybody worked hard, came together and pushed it out. When the fresh legs came on they did the job just as well and finished it off for us."

Kitcher has a clear vision to take her game to the next level. She is in her second year of Year 12 at Grafton High School via Pathways to compensate for the large chunks of school she has missed - and will continue to miss - in her quest to be the best.

Even her body seems to have responded to that desire.

In April she played for New South Wales at the Australian Under-19 Championships and during the rigorous months of training leading up to that tournament she grew an extra inch, now towering over many a goal shooter at 183cm.

That experience has definitely helped Kitcher get her foot in the door and be noticed by the right people.

Much of the NSW U19 squad training took place at the NSW Swifts training venue the Ann Clark Centre at Lidcombe, and during that time received individual tuition from Swifts head coach Rob Wright.

Kitcher's movements in 2014 will likely include university studies but be dictated by opportunities offered through netball.

"I was thinking I would go to Queensland next year," she said.

"But now that I have been in and around the NSW setup, and with (former Grafton netballer) Tahlia Goodwin living down there, I'm looking towards Sydney more."

When available, Kitcher still turns out for her club side Tucabia Opals in Grafton's A-grade competition, and turned heads with her level of improvement on court in Grafton's recent State Netball League Far North Coast regional championship win.

"Since training with the NSW side I think I've become smarter. Well, that's what everyone else has said to me.

"I'm just stepping up and being stronger and more confident on the court."

Kitcher will represent NSW CHS at the NSW All Schools Championships in Sydney from September 14 and two weeks later return to Sydney with Grafton for the State League finals. Then, in October, she starts the process in her bid to be re-selected for NSW U19s, for which she will still be eligible.

In the meantime, this weekend she will umpire the NSW Netball State U17 Championships at Campbelltown and in a fortnight will officiate at State Age Championships.

Originally published as Kitcher first local to be picked in CHS team in seven years