Fiji Pearls’ wing defence Kalesi Tawake, along with Fiji 21&U players Yvonne Nalewbau and Susana Rasaubale, arrived in Sydney last night to join South Coast Blaze Netball Club through the PacificAus Sports Immersion program for the NSW Premier League regular season.
The three players will be fully immersed in the club’s high-performance environment and other player development programme offered by the club.
This immersion program is part of the PacificAus Sports Netball program, which is made possible by the Australian Government (DFAT) and Netball Australia.
The PacificAus Sports Immersion Program’s key objective is to create pathways for emerging Pacific athletes to benefit from high performance coaching and training. Through this program, Netball Australia and their partners aim to build linkages between Australia and the Pacific organisations and promote netball excellence in the region.
Blaze Netball Team is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. Tawake, Nalewabau, and Rasaubale will be with the team for three weeks.
Tawake shared her excitement being part of the program.
Netball Fiji CEO Vivian Koster explained that the program provides our local athletes the opportunity to be immersed at a different level of high performance environment.
“The Immersion programme is an amazing opportunity for our players to be in a different training environment and to learn from others.”
“Those athletes who have been on the programme before have always returned with a new set of skills and knowledge,” added Ms Koster.
“In 2024 we have 3 athletes in the Immersion programme, 1 who is a Fiji Pearl and 2 from our u21 squad, I’m particularly happy to have our u21 squad members go as they will learn a lot as they prepare to fight for a spot in the u21 team.”
The three players will conclude the immersion program with South Coast Blaze on 26th March and will return to the country 27th March.
