Remembering a ‘giant of the game’

The Helen Dodge Memorial Tournament is expected to attract more than 400 young netballers. File photo.

The Harbourside Netball Centre representative tournament being held this Sunday at Mount Maunganui will be tinged with tears as players and officials remember a giant of the game in the region.

The Helen Dodge Memorial Tournament will honour the memory of the long-time Harbourside Netball Centre CEO who passed away twelve months ago.

When Helen and husband Bruce shifted to Tauranga from Gisborne, Helen was quickly recruited to play for Tauranga Old Boys netball team. Her first coaching assignment came with daughter Lisa's Brookfield Primary team, which led to volunteering to assist with junior management at the old Cliff Road netball courts.

A transition to senior volunteer management saw Helen involved with the amalgamation of the Western Bay of Plenty netball centres that formed the Harbourside Netball Centre. Twenty years ago she accepted the post of the Chief Executive position of the newly restructured regional netball centre.

One of her first innovative changes was to gradually move Saturday weekly netball to be played on several nights of the week, to better accommodate a changing environment. The change allowed more players to participate in the various competitions, with the result that player numbers skyrocketed.

Helen's lasting legacy to the Harbourside Netball Centre will be the programs she introduced to Western Bay of Plenty Netball. The ANZ Future Fern and Fun Fern programs, which enabled young children to learn to play netball in a fun environment before they enter competitive netball, were quickly adopted.

Current Harbourside Netball Centre CEO Nicola Compton says the board and members wanted to host an event that would pay tribute to the incredible time and effort that Helen put into the sport.

"We could think of no better tribute to Helen than an age-group representative competition.”

"The concept of the Helen Dodge Memorial tournament is to retain young players in the game by way of age-group representative competition. The under 17 and 19 grades provide the players with an opportunity to be identified by the Waikato/Bay of Plenty selectors who will have a presence on the day”.

More than 400 young netball players are expected to participate and will compete in Year Seven and Eight grades along with Under 15,17 and 19 divisions.

The Helen Dodge Memorial Tournament has attracted entries from Te Awamutu, Whakatane, Rotorua, Eastern Bay of Plenty, Taumarunui, Taupo, Putaruru, Otorohanga, Tokoroa, Hamilton and Mercury Bay.

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