With home-court advantage, Western Gauteng made the Hillfox Action Sports arena their fortress.
Packed to the rafters, the four-court arena was turned into a pressure cooker both inside and outside the nets. The annual Action Netball Interprovincial Tournament was two weekends of a lighting-quick, energy sapping carousel of indoor netball. The U/12s to U/15s burnt up the arena from March 18 to 23, while the U/16 to U/19 teams had their chance from March 31 to April 4.
Carried by bus and plane, teams from across the county swamped Hillfox as a lucky total of 111 players, comprising 72 little league and 39 junior players, fought to be the best in the country. Each age group between U/12 and U/16 had A and B divisions, while the U/17, U/19 and U/19 mixed groups had a single division each. Each division saw each team play each other twice, with the teams finishing third and fourth playing for bronze and the top two battling for the gold medal.
Western Gauteng’s future looks promising as they earned seven podium places from the eight little league age groups. The host’s U/12A and B, and the U/13B all won bronze medals, the U/15A and B team won silver, while Western Gauteng’s little league bragging rights went to the golden U/13A and U/14A. The U/13A needed extra time to earn their gold medal after a 25–25 draw with Eastern Gauteng, with the U/14A beating Western Province 38–31.
In the junior section, Western Gauteng would bag four more medals, starting with silver for both U/16B and the U/19 team. The U/19s were left bitterly disappointed when after keeping fractionally ahead of their Southern Gauteng opponents throughout the match, momentum swung in the closing minutes. With scores tied at 35 each with 10 seconds to go, Southerns gained possession before working the ball into the circle to net the winning goal in the final second.
The final of the U/19 mixed division was an equally tight and tense affair against Fourways-based North-West Gauteng. Featuring a three/ four male and female split, the speed and intensity were turned up a notch. End-to-end, shoulder-to-shoulder, the teams fought back and forth, with the rivals never more than three goals apart. Holding their composure throughout a relentless onslaught, Western Gauteng triumphed 29–26 to become the arena’s fourth gold medallist after the U/16A beat Western Cape Central 41–34 in their final.
Despite the tight matches, of which there were a multitude that were decided by a goal or two over both weekends, the sportsmanship shown was exemplary.
Hillfox Action Arena owner, Graeme Hare applauded the spirit, saying, “We would like to extend a special thank you to the parents, coaches and managers who contributed so much time and effort to allow these athletes to participate in this great sport of Action Netball”.
