Western Australian Trio Earn Selection in World Youth Cup Squad

Published On: 13 April 2017

Three Western Australian netball athletes were named earlier this week in the 2017 Netball World Youth Cup squad ahead of the final team selection in May.

Jessica Anstiss, Sophie Garbin and Annika Lee-Jones were named, potentially giving them the opportunity to travel to Gaborone, Botswana in July to compete in the World Youth Cup, should they be selected for the final team.

The squad was named by Australian World Youth Cup team Head Coach Tanis Obst, national selector Jill McIntosh and Netball Australia’s General Manager of Pathways Stacey West.

Athletes earned their selections based upon their performances in the Suncorp Super Netball League and the 2017 Australian Netball League competition which was recently won by Western Australia’s side, the Western Sting. 

All those selected in the squad are connected to Suncorp Super Netball teams either as a contracted player or a training partner.

Tania Obst expressed the benefits of this, stating “nothing beats being in a quality training environment, and when you are training with some of the best netballers in the world you are more accountable at training and obviously at a match. I think the basic skill level of some of the girls has improved with what we’ve seen on the SSN court and the ANL court over the last eight weeks.”

With the conclusion of the ANL season, it will provide new challenges for those athletes who are not contracted Suncorp players; having to enter their state league environment with the same intensity and standard which was required of them during the Australian Netball League.

Jessica Anstiss and Annika Lee-Jones are both contracted West Coast Fever players, having made their National League debuts earlier this season. 

Sophie Garbin was a member of the gold medal winning Western Sting, Australian Netball League side and is also a West Coast Fever training partner. 

The final team for the World Youth Cup is scheduled to be named in May with the competition set to commence in early July.