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Netball America Netball America in partnership with the Los Angeles Waves Netball Club hosted the first Netball America National Championships in September 2009. The Nationals were held at the annual “Love in LALA Land” tournament in Los Angeles. The Nationals were a huge success, with thirteen teams travelling from all over the US and Canada to attend.
We were thrilled that the Crusaders Club from New York sent two teams to play in the tournament for the first time. It was also great to see our friends from the Navigators, MINC, Calgary Cowgirls, Seattle Emerald City, Phoenix Heat, San Francisco Stars, San Diego United and the Thousand Oaks Comets return for the Love in LALA Land Tournament. Netball is well and truly alive and well in the USA!!!
The Nationals were two full days of netball, following on from the hugely successful Netball Night with the Sparks on September 11th. The tournament was a round robin, with teams playing six games on each day. There were women’s, men’s and mixed teams in the competition. In addition, Netball America conducted umpire testing during the competition. Congratulations to those umpires who passed their tests and were graded during the competition!
The standard of netball was very high. Every game was tightly contested and competitive. The teams that were not playing were treated to some great games to watch. The umpires did a fabulous job keeping cool heads during close games. The level of play and umpiring has improved every year and this year was no exception.
The winner of the women’s title was Crusaders I from New York. Crusaders won the title in a close game against 2008 champions, the Los Angeles Waves RipTide team. The winner of the men’s title was the Navigators, also from New York. The Most Valuable Player award went to Mia Rochester from the Waves Tidal team. Congratulations to the Crusaders, RipTide and Navigators – and well done Mia!
Overall it was a fantastic tournament. Teams played hard and had some fun too.
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