President’s Update – March 2022

In the lead up to Easter it is time for an update of what has been happening and what is coming up around the VMMNA Community.

  • WHAT’S COMING UP:
  • Australian Men’s and Mixed Netball Championships from Easter Sunday in Adelaide
    Three years in the making, our Victorian Teams are finalising preparations as we step closer to the chance to bring home titles.
  • Netball Victoria Association Championships
    Boys and Men’s divisions are available on Finals Day in July – start contacting your local associations NOW to get the ball rolling. VMMNA and Netball Victoria are here to help facilitate your associations, if an individual association hasn’t got enough players we can look at linking that association with another.
  • VMMNA Awards Night
    An event we have been WAITING to bring you, the inaugural VMMNA Awards Night will be coming up shortly after the AMMNA Championships, celebrating award winners from each State team and all our MLeague MVPs, this will be a great opportunity for our extended community to come together to celebrate Men’s and Mixed Netball in Victoria. Please follow VMMNA Socials for all the announcements.

FAST ‘N’ FURIOUS

The annual Fast ‘N’ Furious Junior Tournament was held on Sunday the 27th of February at Waverley & Districts Netball Association. Always an exciting opportunity for our community to see players from far and wide come together and play some terrific netball helping fundraise for our 17 & Under State Team. This year our friends from SAMMNA, the Southern Dragons 17 & Under men’s side, came across from South Australia to be part of the tournament and play an exhibition match against our Victorian Boys. A terrific pre-Australian Championships hit out for all involved and we look forward to further opportunities with the Southern Dragons.

PLAYERS REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE

We have welcomed a new initiative in 2022 for our State Programme: a Players Representative Committee. Their mission is to create a safe space for all players to voice opinions, while increasing male participation in netball.

One of their first public events was a Bowls Night for the squad and wider community. An opportunity for our community to come together in a casual way, the night was enjoyed by all there, stay tuned for future events.

If you want to get in touch with our Players Representative Committee contact Jake Noonan, Adam Franz or Simon Cartwright at PlayersRep@vmmna.org

MLEAGUE
MLeague was back for 2021/2022 and what a relief it was to FINALLY have competitive men’s and mixed netball playing at the State Netball Centre in Parkville. This year saw our Junior MLeague join MLeague together for the first time. The atmosphere around the courts each week was incredible with Juniors and Seniors alike getting treated to top quality netball. Grand Finals for all divisions concluded recently, should you wish to view the Premier Men’sPremier Mixed or 15 & Under Boys matches from the Grand Final Night, they can be found at those links.

There will be a survey link sent out in the near future to all teams seeking feedback on the season and ways of advancing our competition to ensure we continue to have amazing MLeague and Junior MLeague competitions.

Have you got any MLeague History? We are seeking out Grand Final and MVP winner from all years of MLeague. If you were involved in any of these matches or were, indeed, an MVP, please email details through to mleague@vmmna.org as we look at introducing perpetual trophies for Premier Divisions in coming seasons.

STATE PROGRAMME – WELLBEING

With the last two years being particularly difficult for many people due to COVID and the rising numbers of people across our community experiencing mental health difficulties, VMMNA is pleased to announce a Wellbeing Coordinator for our State Programme in Jarrod Mills. Jarrod has his Masters in Social Work and has been working across multiple fields of practice for the last 9 years. Jarrod will be available to support our State squad in the lead up to the Australian Championships and, whilst we are away in Adelaide, primarily in a one to one capacity.

Following Easter’s squad campaign, Jarrod will look to develop and implement a wellbeing program to be rolled out across the squad leading into the 2023 Championships. Jarrod can be contacted via wellbeing@vmmna.org or members of our State Programme can catch him at training on a Sunday. 

STATE PROGRAMME – ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Our State teams have been training hard in the lead up the first Australian Championships in THREE YEARS. Our athletes have been playing practice matches against Melbourne Vixens, Collingwood Magpies, Netball Victoria State teams (pictured above our 17&Unders vs Vic 17s State Team on Sunday!) and more. Stay tuned for details on how to live stream our Victorian sides at the Championships beginning Easter Sunday at Netball SA Stadium.

TRARALGON

In association with Netball Victoria we were able to be part of the Melbourne Vixens Traralgon Takeover. Open Men’s Athletes Jake Noonan and Jake Hederics joined Vixens Kate Eddy, Emily Mannix and Olivia Lewis at clinics for kids of Traralgon for a great day. An exhibition match later in the day occurred for members of the State Programme, showcasing the men’s game to the locals before a Vixens and Thunderbirds pre-season hit out. This game was livestreamed (watch it back here) as part of our blossoming relationship with NV and we look forward to more opportunities in the future.

WEST COAST FEVER & WEST COAST THUNDER

Continuing opportunities with SSN sides, our Open Men were invited across to Perth to showcase their skills against the West Coast Fever in two practice matches in front of the WCF members! Great hit outs for our top side ahead of the Australian Championships were also experienced against a well drilled West Coast Thunder Men’s Open side across the same weekend.

COMMUNITY FUND

Watch to hear more about the Community Fund.Established in 2018 as a way of supporting members in need, the VMMNA Community Fund exists to ensure athletes who have hit hardships can participate in the Australian Championships. Through the generosity of patrons we are able to help out an athlete each year in need. Would you like to help out our Community Fund as a patron (silent or otherwise)? Please contact communityfund@vmmna.org. Any donation amount towards this is much appreciated.

SPONSORSHIP
Men’s and Mixed Netball has always struggled to receive recognition, but that is changing! We are always on the look out for sponsorship, whether that be for our State Programme, MLeague, Junior MLeague or anything in between! Get in contact with us sponsorship@vmmna.org to discuss how your business and VMMNA could partner to help the best and brightest men’s and mixed netballers in Victoria represent your brand.

HISTORY
VMMNA has a long and proud history, but bits and pieces manage to get away from us or aren’t always easy for us to remember. Do you have any history of VMMNA/VMNL that could help us out? This could be newspaper clippings, team photos, Australian Championship team lists, or even MLeague MVPS from across the years? Any and all information you have from our history is welcomed, please send historian@vmmna.org an email with anything you may have.

SOCIALS
Our socials are getting new content regularly, are you following them?

You can follow us on these channels to receive even more regular updates on all things VMMNA: FacebookInstagramTwitter and YouTube.


Yours in netball,

VMMNA COMMITTEE:

VMMNA FURTHER CONTACTS:

Tour Manager – Sonya Febbo – tourmanager@vmmna.org

Athlete Director – Guy Keane: athletedirector@vmmna.org

Players Representative Committee – Jake Noonan, Adam Franz & Simon Cartwright: playersrep@vmmna.org

Marketing & Communications – Simon Cartwright: marketing@vmmna.org

Community Fund – Michael Davis: communityfund@vmmna.org

Sponsorship Manager – Michael Hutchinson: sponsorship@vmmna.org

MLeague Coordinator – Craig Moore: mleague@vmmna.org

Wellbeing Coordinator – Jarrod Mills: wellbeing@vmmna.org

Historian – James McCallum: historian@vmmna.org

Fast’N’Furious Tournament – Geoff Taylor: tournaments@vmmna.org