Sunday, September 18, 2011 saw players, proud parents, committee and life members of the Armidale District Netball Association attend the annual presentation and awards day held at the Armidale City Bowling Club, ADNA’s major sponsor.
NEM Pulse returned from a six-goal deficit with five minutes remaining in the Division 1A grand final to claim victory over Impies by just two goals, allowing the NEM Pulse girls to maintain the rights to hold the perpetual championship trophy for the 5th consecutive year. Their formidable opponents, Impies, played a tremendous game and, after coming so close to the winners’ trophy, they are already making strategic plans for next season. Umpires for the big game, Laura Cambridge and Caitlin Holman, did a fantastic job officiating the intense match, ensuring the game flowed smoothly. Billie Murray from Roberts and Morrow Ravens took home the overall Best and Fairest award for this division.
The prestigious Marg Carson Award is presented to a person within ADNA who gives 110 per cent to netball over the course of the season and is selected by Marg Carson. This year that award was presented to Caitlin Holman. Caitlin is the coach of ACSC Shots and O’Connor Blue, a National C badged umpire who not only umpired every week for the competition, but also travelled to Sydney to umpire State Championships, Illawarra to umpire Stage Age Championships, and umpired all four rounds of Regional State League. Caitlin recently filled in for the position of ADNA registrar and recorder and attends many of the association’s meetings. Caitlin is not only the deserving winner of this award, but also an inspiration to many of the young up and coming netball enthusiasts within ADNA.
This year, Netballer of the Year was awarded to Justine Kavanagh for giving it her all. During the netball season, Justine lives and breathes netball as she plays in Division 1B, umpires, is the ADNA Umpire Convenor, umpired at Stage Age Championships and Regional Stage League, played in the Armidale representative State Championships team, and is on the Regional Organising Committee. This award was voted by members of the association. Justine is highly deserving of this award, despite her modest acceptance, and it’s great to see that she has been recognised for all her hard work and dedication to netball.
All other award winners:
Junior umpire of the year – Emma Scott
Senior umpire of the year – Billie Murray
Most improved umpire of the year – Eryn Cavanagh
Junior coach of the year – Sophie Sincock and Kiandra Burns
Senior coach of the year – Wiki Camilleri
Primary Encouragement Award – Eliza Clark
Club champions – Uralla Netball club
Schoolgirls trophy – NEGS1
ADNA have had another extremely successful year, with 645 members across eight senior divisions and two junior divisions. The presentation day was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended.
