Samoan Netball

So we have been back in the country only 3 weeks and so much has happened. In this time the girls A team won the netball shield. This is no mean feat and a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. Next game is against the top of the grade and a very strong team so we will see if we can hang on to the log of wood! Of course we had a celebration out that night and took the shield with us around town!!

As well as this we have had the South African team visiting to play 2 test matches against the Samoan National side. Always exciting to have international teams here. The courts never look better. We also seem to acquire new things like tarpaulins to keep the sun out so at least local netball also benefits. Most of us were at the courts working in some way or another. Adam and I got roped into doing the flip chart scoring. I'm sure he was more on to it than me as I was so focused on all there was to watch such as the teams and what the international umpires were doing. Speaking of which, myself and Ioane were asked to umpire the curtain raiser for the first game. This was between SCOPA and SMOGA the top 2 secondary school teams in the country. Always a rival match that one. Anyway little did we know that the NZ international umpires, Faye, Jono and Bobbie, came in to watch our game, assessed us and passed us for our Regional Umpiring badges!!! Very exciting for us as we are now the first ever umpires to reach this level in Samoa. We will see now about attending the clinic in Auckland in September to help us study towards the NZ Theory and NZ practical exams. This honor does not come lightly however as we are already getting asked the hard questions regarding the rules!!!

We - meaning mostly Adam - have also done our good deed at USP and got stuck in and painted the netball court lines. Having waited over a year and having come up with 3 quotes that were all exorbitant it was becoming pretty urgent that we needed a court painted so Adam sourced some road marking paint, make up a template with wood the right width for the lines and we went and measured up and painted the thing on before anyone could stop us. Yellow hobbit feet later (paint overspray!) and the courts look fab. It has been great. Now we can train properly. One small thing to sort out now which is the 2 tennis net poles sticking up in the middle of the mid court however hopefully maintenance will be on to that soon ..... or maybe we will have to wait another year to get them removed. Can't rush these things!! The courts have been christened by USP and the UniGames team ....

Yes there have been 2 solid months of serious organising to take the University Netball Team to Australia. Just yesterday we got that bit more funding we needed for our last bill which is the accommodation in Toowoomba. So we are off on Friday 2nd July to be the first team to compete in the UniGames in Australia. The team are all pretty excited and so am I. It has not been easy fundraising and filling in forms, forms and yet more forms but we have the flights, visa's, accommodation, travel insurance, uniforms, balls, team lineups etc all sorted now and we are ready to play. Think we are all going to freeze as it is 5 degrees over night and 10 degrees through the day in Toowoomba but will let you know how it goes. I hope the 13 young adults I have to supervise behave?????????????????????????

Other than netball ...... well is there anything other than netball? Oh yes there is that work thing that gets fitted in around! Have been asked to re-design the inside of the Alafua Library which is a great opportunity. Hope there is some serious money available. Have to move the counter back apparently and make more student space then see if we can refurbish etc. I am hoping to create more of a "learning commons" space with more/new computers, small and large tables for study, wireless internet, relaxing space and generally make the place look more inviting. Adam again has been a fab help using his autocad skills to draw up a floor plan of the libray and help me plan what would need to go where. Big job. Need to write a proposal. I guess that will be the first task when I get back from Toowoomba.

Take care all. Speak soon xx

PS check out Flickr as will be uploading more photos soon