A total of 132 teams from approximately 80 schools will participate in the Crest Chicken Fiji Secondary Schools Netball tournament, scheduled for August 21-23 at the National Netball Centre in Laucala, Suva. The finals will feature teams from nine different zones across Fiji, with around 1,800 athletes expected to compete this year.
While there is a decrease of 66 teams compared to last year, the competition is anticipated to be more intense. Navitalai Naivalu, President of Fiji Secondary Schools Netball, expressed appreciation to Goodman Fielder for sponsoring the Fiji Secondary Schools Netball Finals and supporting the development of grassroots netball in Fiji.
Naivalu emphasized that this sponsorship will aid in nurturing netball from its foundational level, creating opportunities for young athletes to potentially represent their country in the future. “This supports the development of netball in secondary schools where we have over 4,000 players, and we expect to see the best teams in action at the national tournament,” he stated.
Excitingly, schools from remote areas such as Rotuma and Adi Maopa Secondary School from Lau, which have not participated in a decade, will also join the tournament. These teams will need to qualify through rally competitions to advance to the national level.
In the previous year’s tournament, Suva Grammar emerged as the champion in the U14 to U19 age categories and will aim to defend its title, while Yet Sen has the open boys title to uphold from last year.