Coach happy with club

VEUPUNAMA’S Under-21 team had an unbeaten record throughout the season in the Port Moresby Netball Association competition before stamping their mark in the grand final.
Coach Margaret Opina directed the team to beat Telstars 20-15 in the grand final following a six-week winning streak in the POMNA lightning round.
Veupunama finished the season with the U10, U13, U17 and U21 teams comfortably cruising past their opponents in their respective grand finals in the junior divisions on Saturday at the Sir John Guise Indoor Complex.
The U10 finals saw both Veupunama teams battle it out in a sisterly affair, in which team one defeated team two 10-1 while in the U13 contest, Veupunama dragged down Paramana 12-2.
Opina’s U17 girls overthrew Rebels in a close battle 14-12 and the U21 capped it off with a barnstorming 20-15 finish over Telstars.
“We’re happy, we’ve done our homework and came good with all our games. I’d like to make a special mention to Kiri Francis who is the coach for the junior teams, she did well with assistance of Rayleen Andrew.
“Barbara Arivusu also played an instrumental role with me in guiding the U21 girls, so I commend all the assistant coaches for a job well done.”
Opina, who is also the national team’s assistant coach, said it was important to include junior divisions in the competition.
She said the club was breeding the next crop of netball stars including future representatives.
“There’s a lot of talent especially with the U10 girls,” Opina said.
“If we look after these kids for the next 10 years, we will have skilled Pepes players in the future.
“As coaches we will instill skills and groom the players because there’s a lot of potential stars in the making.”