The Vicis Netball Club has had a great response after issuing an urgent plea for players to form an A Grade side in the Mount Gambier Netball Association.
The club put the call out last week for players, after learning it would not be able to field any senior teams if it did not nominate an A Grade side.
This prompted the club to launch a social media call out and hold a meeting in a bid to fill a team.
A spokesperson said the club was buoyed by the support and hopeful of fielding a team in the A Grade.
“We had a good response from the call out and we continue to receive messages from players interested in playing, some past players and new players,” the spokesperson said.
“We have put forth our nominations to the MGNA board for consideration including an A Grade and are currently waiting for their decision.
“We had life members come to our meeting which was wonderful to see.”
The spokesperson said the club had nominated Tara Dowdell as president and appointed Chris Nobes as seniors coach, who would bring with her a wealth of experience.
“Vicis has a long road ahead rebuilding our infrastructure if you will, however moving forward, we will need some strong sponsorship to assist with this to help develop our juniors and sustain our seniors,” the spokesperson said.
“Vicis have developed their strategic management plan and mission statement, and hope that together with their new members and 2024 committee can continue to build on this momentum to ensure we can be sustainable as a club and active member of the MGNA in seasons to come.
“We look forward to being able to celebrate our 60th year next year so this will make our celebrations even more meaningful.
“Netball is a wonderful sport many women have enjoyed over many years and so many friendships have been forged as well as given people a much needed outlet for physical and mental wellbeing.”
Association president Tracy Brown said the board was pleased to see Vicis working towards a solution to its recruitment.
“At this stage there has been no decision made in regards to their proposed A Grade nomination,” she said.
“We have a board meeting on Monday night and we are hopeful that a decision will be made at that time.
“From the board’s perspective all we can say is we’re really pleased Vicis has been able to consolidate and get together and meet the MGNA requirements.
“It’s important to note the decision were not just made by the board, but by a collective of the board and club representatives, it was a collaborative decision that was made based on the information that we had.”
Mrs Brown said the MGNA Board has been working with Vicis since nominations closed on Monday, March 4 to ensure the club could meet the association’s requirements of nominating an A Grade team.
“Ultimately MGNA’s end goal out of all of this is to make a strong A Grade competition knowing that in the next few years there are going to be some changes made in football and netball around the district,” she said.
“There is a strong consensus that without a strong A Grade comp we might not be able to attract those players back.
“We have two other clubs in a similar situation to Vicis but as per our agreement at our AGM late last year A Grade exemptions would not be granted in 2024 and those two clubs have both submitted A Grade teams that may not be as competitive as they like, but they have complied with our by-laws.
“Ultimately all six clubs in our association need to be taken into consideration and while every ounce of our being wants to support Vicis, we have to take everything into consideration.”
