NZCT & Netball Mainland Connecting and Inspiring Communities

NZCT is making a major contribution of $205,000 towards salaries, office provision, and vehicle leases for Netball Mainland staff to support regional delivery across Netball Mainland's sixteen centres.

Relationship Manager Thomas Houghton goes on to say "Netball New Zealand is the national sporting organisation that provides leadership and support for netball throughout the country via five regional Zones, eighty-three netball centres, and over twelve hundred clubs and schools. As Aotearoa’s number one female sport, netball is a key element in many communities, providing women and girls with the opportunity to come together, develop relationships, leadership skills, and achieve healthy and balanced lifestyles regardless of age, cultural background, or economic status. NNZ staff work alongside centres with a focus on maintaining locally-led delivery and growing additional partnerships outside of the traditional centre delivery model."

Netball in Mainland is delivered through a network of sixteen netball centres and three hundred affiliated clubs and schools. Our vision is to use the sport not only as a vehicle to connect and inspire communities, but also as a way to nurture a life-long love of the game for anyone who gets involved. Participation opportunities, development, and support is provided to over 20,753 women and girls, 2,171 coaches and umpires, and many other community volunteers. The Mainland Zone was placed in liquidation during COVID, which impacted our ability to support these sixteen netball centres at a local level.

We target regional outcomes that foster participation, system sustainability & capability, and development opportunities for players, coaches, and umpires. Netball Mainland employs a team of community staff to ensure that all participants have a great experience in a safe and welcoming environment. With close to 25,000 participants across the zone, we are focused on growing centre capability in the areas of governance, coaching, umpiring, and player participation.

Our goal is to deliver programmes that grow the game and quality of participant experience and our sixteen centres do an amazing job providing netball opportunities to their local communities. We are incredibly grateful for the critical support NZCT provides us and the positive impact this allows our team to have on the netball system. NZCT’s continued investment will allow us to grow capacity and capability, deliver to our potential, and impact on the social, physical, and mental wellbeing of thousands of women and girls across New Zealand.