Three of the GIANTS’ most promising young players will spend the next four days at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, for the Australian 21U Camp.
2022 and 2023 GIANTS squad members Matisse Leatherbarrow and Amy Sligar and 2022 Suncorp Super Netball debutant Jemma Donoghue were announced in the squad after the recent inaugural Australian Netball Championships (ANC) in Traralgon.
Camp attendee Sligar described ANC as incredible experience.
“It was a lot of intense netball in a short period of time, which isn’t something we’ve had a lot of in the past few years,” she said.
“It was good to get out there and play some quality netball and come together as the GIANTS Netball Academy for the first official time.”
Whilst ANC was a key selection platform for the 21U squad, the tournament featured a range of athletes in age and experience.
“That’s the beauty of ANC, there is so many purposes to it and each individual kind of had their own,” Sligar said.
“For us 21U athletes to be able to test ourselves against smarter and more experienced players, it brings the best out of you and you have to step up.”
It will be the third time Sligar has attended the 21U camp since entering the pathway as a New South Wales representative at the National Netball Championships.
“I think the main focus at camp [this year] will be the Australian way of play – how we can look to put that out on court and how we can develop that,” she said.
“We started that from 17U and it’s been a common theme to hopefully carry through to the Diamonds one day.
“Just working on that and building connections across the country.”
Sligar will be joined at the camp by teammates and friends Letherbarrow and Donoghue.
Between the three of them, they have shared a lot of pathway milestones together along the way and this weekend will be another chapter in their shared journeys.
“To have them there and to be there together is awesome. They’re my mates, I see them every day, so nice to have that bit of comfort for when you’re away,” Sligar said.
“They’re both amazing athletes, two people that I look up to as well.
“Our journeys have all kind of been similar, but then also different in our own way.”
