Girls and boys who are in Grade 2 or above can join our club to play netball in the Whitehorse Netball Association. Boys can play until they are 13 from which point they can search for a boys or mixed netball competition to continue playing netball. In recent times, the WNA have been interested in launching a boys competition if they can attract enough interested players.
There are 2 seasons per year. The ‘Winter’ season starts typically on the first weekend of the school year (February, running through to June). The Spring season typically starts on the first weekend of Term 3 (July, running through to December). There are usually no games scheduled over the term school holidays.
Coaches are usually announced a week or so before the scheduled start to the season. As you can appreciate, coaches are often hard to source, particularly for newly formed teams. The club relies on volunteers to fulfil the role and rely heavily on any parents of our players who have knowledge and experience in the game and who are willing to volunteer their time. If you are interested in coaching please inform the committee via email – hilitesnetball@gmail.com
Training times are determined by our coaches based around their availability. Training sessions are typically conducted at the Vermont Primary School or Vermont Secondary School shortly after school
Teams are announced shortly after the conclusion of the preceding season’s finals series.
Our teams are capped at 10 players per team. Team sizes of 9 are preferable as court position rotations are easier to manage. With 7 court positions, the minimum team size would be 7 however we expect teams of 8 to ensure there is coverage for when players are injured or unavailable.
Yes, all teams require a Team Manager to ensure the smooth operations of the team, maintain harmony, ensure effective communications to/from the team and ultimately to alleviate administrative tasks from the coach. No team will be allowed to commence the season without a Team Manager being nominated.
You can order uniforms online or contact our Uniform Co-ordinator to arrange a fitting. An order will be placed for a new dress if we do not have any dresses of the appropriate size available in stock.
The Hi-Lites uniforms are newly designed, having been updated in 2014. The uniform is a dress Royal Blue, Emerald Green and White in colour. Bloomers must be either Royal Blue or Black in color with White socks.
The Hi-Lites dress uniform costs $70, bloomers are $15. Club hoodies are not considered part of the mandatory uniform and are therefore an optional purchase. They are however very warm and look great on the players – these cost $40.
Hi-Lites registration fees are $120 per season, making Netball one of the most affordable team sports to play. Our fees have recently been lifted by $10 after having been static for many years.
Our club runs heavily on the back of our volunteers. The Committee, Team Manager and Coaching positions are all filled by our enthusiastic parents who have plenty to offer the club and its operations. The roles of each have been defined on our website. These roles are determined annually at the clubs’ Annual General Meeting. There are also scoring duties to be carried out for each and every game – Team Managers will be calling on our parents to assist on a rotating basis. If you are willing and able to assist, please offer your assistance where you can, or volunteer your time when asked. If the committee is aware of your desire to assist we can ensure you are made aware when roles become available or assistance is required.
A season is comprised of 14 rounds plus 3 weeks of finals.
The Whitehorse Netball Association (WNA) provides a modified competition to encourage participation and enjoyment in the sport of netball as a means of improving health, fitness and the quality of life. This competition is designed to ensure all children will have fun, focus on developing their skills by learning all court positions and have equal court time. There is a strong focus on enjoyment so that participation will continue with no expectations of adult standards. To support this purpose there are no scores or ladders kept for these sections.
Regrading occurs annually. The process typically commences in October with independent assessments made of all players. Information provided to the Regrading Committee is then used to shape the teams according to the recommendations of the assessor, with teams being announced shortly after the Spring Season concludes. The club does not look to make any changes at the end of the Winter season unless forced by departures from the club. Any changes at this time will factor in the feedback received through the latest regrading process amongst other inputs, including coach feedback and regrading committee observations.
It can affect any player from any team.
We engage an independent assessor to conduct a review of our players to eliminate bias where possible. The assessor is typically a person with significant netball experience, who has played netball to a high level. The assessor will observe our players over multiple weekends and assess them individually for their skill level, court awareness and movement, and appropriate/relative fit for the team and section that they are currently playing in.
All clubs are expected to provide club affiliated umpires to the Whitehorse Netball Association to be rostered to umpire one or more of the many games played each weekend. Hi-Lites proudly supply a strong contingent of young umpires wishing to learn and gain experience as an umpire. One of the first steps to become an umpire is to complete the online course on Netball Victoria’s website. Once you have completed this online course you can start to umpire. In the Whitehorse Netball Association, umpires are reviewed and mentored as they umpire with the ultimate aim to grooming them to obtaining their badges such as C and B Grade Badges.
You can address your questions to the club’s secretary who is responsible for handling correspondence to/from the committee. You can email questions or concerns to hilitesnetball@gmail.com. The secretary will ensure your email is addressed by the appropriate committee member, dependent on the area of concern. The committee looks to promptly address any queries as soon as is possible. Please be mindful that all committee members, Team Managers and coaches are volunteers who also have ‘day jobs’ and may not be able to respond to you as promptly as you may like, but our endeavour is to address queries promptly.