HISTORY was made on Wednesday night as the Central Victorian Netball Association (CVNA) officially came into being following an alignment between the Bendigo Strathdale and Golden City netball associations.
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For the first time in their existence, BSNA and GCNA-affiliated teams will play alongside each other in an expanded competition at the Golden City association's home courts in West Bendigo.
Players in the new over-18 and 18-and-under premium competitions were given the honour of launching a new era of co-operation between the two associations.
More than 180 teams have committed to playing across three days - Wednesday and Friday nights and Saturday morning and afternoon.
Respective presidents, the BSNA's Nikki Boulter and Rachel Thomsen, from the GCNA, declared the season opening as a proud and historic day for netball in the region.
"It was a very exciting night having the two associations come together for the first time," Boulter said.
"There's certainly been some teething problems as we expected, but it has all come together quite nicely and we are working together very well.
"The two associations do work very differently and there have been some matters to work through, but we have been absolutely committed to doing that.
"We have been assisted by Netball Victoria and the girls down there have done an amazing job helping us wade through all the stuff we have had to do - all the logistics and things."
It seemed only fitting that a new era in co-operation was ushered in by a pair of new competitions.
The Wednesday night over-18 and 18-and-under premium competitions are both being run for the first time in 2024.
Boulter praised the work of four-time Sandhurst premiership coach and BSNA representative team coach Tamara Gilchrist in getting the new competitions up and running.
"Tamara has done a great job pulling this together," she said.
"I've left this in her very capable hands, given I had plenty of other things to concentrate on.
"She has just done an amazing job. Hopefully we can grow the Wednesday night and keep offering it in future years."
It's been an awesome team effort from everyone involved. Kudos to both the Golden City and BSNA executive committees, who have worked hard to get it off the ground
- GCNA president Rachel Thomsen
After months of meetings and negotiations, GCNA president Thomsen said it was heartening and exciting to see players on the court for the first time under the CVNA banner.
"From the time Nikki (Boulter) and I said 'let's just go for it', there has been so much to do, but I'm proud to say we were ready to hit the ground running," she said.
"While Wednesday nights are new and will take some time for us to build a nice base of teams, I'm proud to say Friday night and Saturdays are at full capacity and we have 181 teams over the three days.
"It's been an awesome team effort from everyone involved. Kudos to both the Golden City and BSNA executive committees, who have worked hard to get it off the ground, as well as our umpires.
"We have over 100 umpires on Saturday alone."
Due to the number of teams competing on Friday nights and the limited number of courts (six out of 12) with lighting, a small number of games will be played at Marist College.
While both associations have adapted strongly to the changes, Thomsen recognised there would still be some issues to be worked out along the way.
"People do need to remember, this is a trial period. If there are any crinkles to be ironed out, we will do that round by round," she said.
"It has been great being able to bring together and drawing on such a wealth of different experience across the committees, the coaching panel and our umpires sub-committee.
"There is so much netball passion and expertise out there.
"Pam Ferrari, from Netball Victoria, has been fantastic and we have enlisted an administrator from Netball Victoria to help out with that side of things.
"It's a bit of a pilot program for them too in terms of the assistance they give."
Apart from Wednesday night's, Friday night's line-up includes an eventual four divisions of under-18s.
A busy Saturday schedule includes 13-and-unders, 11-and-unders, grade 3 clinic, and all-abilities.
