Hearing shouts of encouragement during fun teamwork drills brought a smile to the face.
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Primary school students had a ball at the outdoor netball courts on Caramut Road in Warrnambool on Monday.
Hundreds of year three and four students, from a range of schools, participated in Netball Victoria's primary school netball carnival.
And the fun continues on Tuesday with more students set to take the courts. There'll be a session in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Netball Victoria's (NV) netball participation coordinator Maddie Okely is thrilled to have so many youngsters involved in the clinics.
"We've got around 300 kids over the next two days. They'll come down and do shooting, passing, defending rotations and a bit of a game to finish off," she said.
She and colleague Mel Taylor were supported by south-west coaches on Monday including Georgia Corbett, Skye Billings (North Warrnambool Eagles), Kim Jamieson (Panmure) and Chelsea (Old Collegians and WCNA) and Sara Quinn (Old Collegians/ South West Academy of Sport).
Okely hopes the carnival will get more boys and girls interested in playing the sport.
"So we target the grade three and fours, we think that's a good time to get into schools and the kids are at the right age where they can start to catch the ball and throw," she said
"We want give them those skills and hopefully they then want to join netball."
The netball participation coordinator said NV typically ran the carnival once a year in term one.
She said it was also about supporting the Warrnambool City Netball Association (WCNA).
"They've (WCNA) got programs where the grade three and fours can actually participate so we try and promote their programs and get kids in the door - it's a great first place for them to get involved," Okely said.
She added it was great to see netball back after the coronavirus pandemic enforced break.
"Warrnambool City has so many opportunities like juniors, ladies and mixed so it's been great to see those return and we look forward to having more numbers through the doors," she said.
WCNA's Marg Morgan said there was a coach development course on Sunday morning at Emmanuel College sports complex with 10 coaches completing their development level qualifications.
Netball Victoria will host coaching and umpiring workshops at Warrnambool stadium on April 18.
The two coaching workshops will focus on footwork and game sense.
Decision-making and mentoring will be key aspects of the two umpiring sessions.
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