Three Margaret River Hawks netballers score chance to take on State’s best

A trio of young Hawks netballers will take on WA’s best in a top tier contest held in Perth later this year.

Margaret River Senior High School students and Augusta-Margaret River Hawks Netball regulars Eloise Ride, Ella Fry and Isla Drake-Brockman will don guernseys for the South West under-14 squad ahead of the October 4 State Cup.

The trio are part of the Fever In Time State development program, which is the leading pathway for State and national netball stars of the future.

Hawks netball spokesperson Aoife Cosby said the club was proud of the young athletes.

“The Fever In Time State Cup team is the pathway to the under-17 West Coast Fever Futures team which is selected from this State Cup team competition,” she told the Times.

“Having three of these girls selected from Margaret River is an amazing achievement.

“Out of the 14 selected in the under-14 team, five are from Bunbury and four are from Busselton, so to have three from such a small regional town is a great achievement.”

The young women were looking forward to the development opportunities coming from intensive training sessions leading up to the October competition.

Key player Ride said she considered herself lucky to get the opportunity to test her skills against the best netballers.

“I can’t wait for the trainings in the program, where I hope to improve my game and get coaching from amazing coaches,” she said.

“Hopefully we get some wins for the South West in the State Cup.”

Many of the training sessions would involve the players travelling to Donnybrook due to the squeeze on netball and basketball facilities across the South West, including in Bunbury.

Cosby herself received valued recognition this week, named as Netball WA’s South West volunteer of the year.

The award honoured the dedicated volunteer’s “countless hours” of service to the sport and fostering development among junior grades.