A big congratulations to all three Wellington East Diehards teams who took part in the recent New Zealand Masters Games netball competition in Wanganui from 7th - 10th February.

Many of the players are regulars at the Masters Games who opt to continue their netball fun and games by travelling to compete at the international event held in Wanganui or Dunedin in alternative years.  They first started competing at the Games in 1997 as it was decided it was time to seek competition of a similar age group for a change to the NWC Winter Competition consisting of younger adults and college teams.  Make no mistake, no matter their age, they certainly hold their own as some still play in the Prem Grades!  Since 1997, they have not stopped, starting off as one team playing under Wellington East Diehards and now growing in numbers along with age.  To date they have a total haul of 4 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze medals with Golds/Silver from the NZ Games in the Hawkes Bay. They also won Silver in the 45+ netball competition at the Pan Pacific Masters Games on the Gold Coast last November.  No such thing as retirement with this bunch of girls!

Diehards consist of a majority of Wellington East Club players joined by five players from Newlands College Old Girls and one player from SMOG - all from clubs that participate in the Netball Wellington Centre Winter Competition.  There are 9 players over 50 years young.  Diehards have certainly embraced netball as an all-season sport as they also compete regularly in our Spring and Summer Twilight Leagues.  A fantastic effort!

This year the teams achieved the following final placings:
45+ Wellington East Diehards won gold
40+ Wellington East Diehards Juniors won bronze
30+ Wellington East Diehards Toddlers won silver

Well done to all involved and thanks also to the teams' umpires Jo Millet and Dianne McKenzie.

Team Photo - Back row Snrs 45+ with Gold medals , Middle row Toddlers 30+ with Silver medals, Bottom row Jnrs 40+ with bronze medals

If any players, teams, coaches, managers, umpires or bench officials have a similar achievement to share, please get in touch via email to info@netballwellington.co.nz so we can celebrate our members' successes!