Kendyl Hopley, from Bendigo, has been given the task of providing support to local netball volunteers, and promoting the sport to girls within the community.

Ms Hopley, 27, is a former Golden Square netballer who completed a sport and recreation traineeship in 2003 and has worked in the field for several years. The 12-month part-time position with Netball Victoria is part of a pilot program aimed at further developing netball in regional areas.

An officer has also been appointed to oversee the sport in Wangaratta.

Netball Victoria participation and development manager Paul Mullarvey said the scheme could be rolled out across the state if the two trial sites were a success.

Mr Mullarvey said the concept arose late last year after netball forums were held throughout re

gional Victoria.

“It became apparent that this kind of service was needed,” he said.

Mr Mullarvey said it was becoming more difficult to attract netball volunteers, and those who did offer their services had many more administrative responsibilities nowadays than simply organising games on a Saturday.

Many parents today were more likely to help out on a one-off basis, instead of taking on an ongoing role, or wanted to just pay fees rather than do the extra work, he said.

The regional development officer could support local committees with the extra duties, which were often time-consuming and complex. Mr Mullarvey also said administrators needed to actively encourage girls to play netball, because there was more competition these days from other sporting and non-sporting alternatives.

“Girls have always played netball and we haven’t had to do anything,” he said.

“But now, a lot of other sports have female participation strategies - like cricket, football and soccer.

“And there are also non-sporting activities such as social networking on MySpace and Facebook, so we can longer rely on the fact that girls will play netball.

“We have to be more proactive than that.”

Mr Mullarvey said the regional development officer role would be reviewed at the end of the 12-month trial and a cost-benefit analysis presented to the Netball Victoria board in the hope of obtaining further funding to expand it.

Ms Hopley said she was very excited about taking on the position in Bendigo and hoped to help build links between Netball Victoria and local clubs and associations.