Epping wins Woolworths Pick Fresh Play Fresh People’s Choice netball grant

Epping will look to invest in improved training facilities to help support its booming junior netball program after winning a $20,000 grant from Woolworths.

Cath Cox and Emily Andrews deliver Epping a $20,000 boost.

Epping has won a $20,000 national netball grant to help support it’s booming numbers.

The Pingers were awarded the Woolworths Pick Fresh Play Fresh People’s Choice Netball Grant after a national poll saw it claim more than 25 per cent of votes.

The Northern Football Netball League club has seen numbers explode this year and the funding will help continue to build its program.

Australia Diamonds legend Cath Cox and current Melbourne Vixens goal shooter Emily Andrews were on hand to present the cheque and take a training with budding young netballers.

Epping junior netball co-ordinator Meaghan Coyle said the funding was a significant boost on and off the court.

Emily Andrews and Cath Cox talk to Epping Net, Set, Go players.

“It’s fantastic, we’re so excited to win the Woolworth’s People’s Choice netball grant,” Coyle said.

“It’s going to be awesome for our club, it’s going to mean we can do a lot of things to grow junior netball in the area and just create a better experience.

“We’ve almost doubled the number of Net, Set, Go participants and gone from three junior teams to seven for our summer competitions. It’s grown phenomenally.

“With that growth, we need new equipment, we’ve also been providing healthy snacks at training and one of the big things we’re looking to do is buy portable tower lights so we can train later at night.

“We’re lucky enough to have access to courts at Epping Views Primary School, they’ve been a great supporter of ours for our Net, Set, Go program and junior training.

“With the growth we’re experiencing we’re training later so that will be essential for us to make sure players are training safety.”

The Epping community clearly believe the club is providing an essential service.

Almost 70,000 votes were submitted nationally with Epping attracting 17,656 votes to win.

Cath Cox and Emily Andrews deliver Epping a $20,000 boost.

After a record winter season, the Pingers will field several underage teams for the first time with the new summer season kicking off shortly.

Having a complete pathway, from Net, Set, Go to senior netball, was an exciting moment for the club.

“We’re really grateful for the support, without the public support we wouldn’t have got this and it’s going to make a huge difference,” Coyle said.

“For the winter season just finished, we had one 11-and-under team and two 13-and-under teams.

“For the coming summer season we’ll have our first 15s team that we’ve ever had, we’ll have three 13s teams, two 11s teams and we’ll be getting a nine-and-under team, which is really important for our pathway.

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“Woolworths Net, Set, Go is like the Auskick program, the fundamental program where kids develop their basic skills and they need the pathway to go up to nine-and-under all the way up to seniors.

“This will be the first time we’ve had the full pathway, which is really exciting.”

Epping’s senior netball club won the Division 14 premiership this season, while also reaching the grand final in divisions seven, nine and 13.

Diandra Mponda won the Division 9 league best-and-fairest medal.