Although recent noise about Bond’s netball program has centred around the selection of Bull Sharks Hart Sapphire and Ruby State League teams for next year, the work doesn’t begin and end there.
On Sunday Bond’s 80 Future Bull Sharks Program participants enjoyed their fourth and final training session at Bond University’s Sports Hall.
The Future Bull Sharks program is mostly made up of club netballers looking to improve their skills ahead of local association representative trials.
And on Saturday, Bond hosted its first group of young indigenous athletes as part of its new First Nations Bull Sharks initiative.
Over four weeks, these athletes will have an opportunity to improve their footwork, ball work, court fitness and attacking and defensive skills under the watchful eye of Bond’s coaches.
Bond Bull Sharks Head of Netball Operations Kim Boland says these kinds of programs will help Bond deliver on its goal of being front of mind when it comes to grassroots development of the sport.
Participants at Sunday’s session were treated to a surprise with Queensland Firebirds Goal Attack Mia Stower on hand to offer some training tips and share insights into her netball development.
“There are certain advantages that flow from having the daughter of your head coach on the Firebird’s playing roster!” Boland said.
“Mia was outstanding with the kids. She was so generous with her time and knowledge. Netball is the kind of sport where this kind of community-level mentorship has always played a significant role and we were very lucky to give these kids the opportunity to learn from an elite-level talent.”
Sapphire and Ruby players will be back at Bond on 4 December when they’ll commence strength and conditioning training with high-performance guru Glenn Corcoran.