The 2022 National Netball Championship were played over the term 1 school holidays at the Hobart Netball and Sports Centre in Tasmania and MSA had 2 representatives in the U17 Victorian team.

Year 11 MSA Student Athlete’s Montaya Sardi and Charlotte Morey both played an integral part in Victoria’s efforts at the Championships helping their state get into the Grand final match against NSW.  Unfortunately though NSW won the final 38-35 to win the gold medal relegating Victoria to a silver medal.

Charlotte believes Victoria had every opportunity “During the week when we lost to NSW we lost by 20 points, so going into the Grand Final we weren’t expected to win and while the Grand Final was close all game, I feel that we didn’t play bad but NSW just played a bit better. They stepped up and we didn’t step up with them and they took out the ” Montaya acknowledging the rivalry that exists between the two states, “After our first loss to NSW in the preliminary rounds we were just hungry to get a win…There is definitely a rivalry between the two teams you can really feel it.”

Charlotte reminisced over what was a special week for the girls, “ It was a really exciting week, and there was a lot of adrenaline pumping through the body which helped get you through the week.  The team was really close and we made new friends with teammates that we shared a cabin with, and it was really exciting to get a different perspective from our new coaches and get different feedback on your game.”  Playing with and against the best U17 netballers in the country was a real buzz for Montaya, “ It was hard at the start when you have to start learning to play with a whole new group of netballers, but it got easier once you got used to their different styles.  The Victorian team really connected well on and off the court, and that definitely helped us on court.”

Both Girls have been at Maribyrnong Sports Academy for their 5 years of High School and both credit the work of the MSA Strength and Conditioning staff and high performance coaches and teachers for their rise into being State team competitors, “ I think having lots of training and Gym very close together and being around that high level coaching and players who are all trying to push, has definitely helped with my mindset and also has helped in getting my body through the week”, says Charlotte while Montaya is in full agreement with her teammate “ Yeah I definitely believe that the Maribyrnong staff has helped us like through years 7, 8 and 9 to prepare for this sort of tournament with things like the feedback, recovery, gym and knowing our body and knowing when it’s enough and when to stop and stop if we need too.”

Meanwhile Charlotte has been named in the Australian u17 training squad which will take part in a series of training sessions later in the year. “ It’s really exciting and great to hear that a lot of the hard work that you have put in has paid off. I’m so looking forward to heading off to Canberra for a camp and working with all the great talent from around Australia.”

Both athletes now looking forward to putting into place what they have learnt and taking that knowledge to their local teams.