Olympics players to don new uniforms

Narrogin Olympics Netball Club have received exciting news ahead of the 2020 season — players will wear new uniforms this year courtesy of a grant from the Woolworths You Grow Girl Grants Program.

The club will receive $2000 in funding, which will go towards buying new uniforms.

Olympics Netball Club vice-president Catherine Thornton applied for the grant in August and was notified last Thursday that the club had been successful.

Mrs Thornton said the club had had its current two-piece uniform for the past 15 years.

“It is quite outdated compared to the rest of the clubs in the Narrogin and Districts Netball Association and so we’re excited to be modernising,” she said.

“We surveyed our membership in 2019 and 69 per cent of members responded with wanting a change in uniform, specifically to a netball dress.”

Mrs Thornton said the club was overwhelmed.

She said the grant would serve two purposes for the club: to provide assistance to purchase the uniforms outright at the time of ordering, helping provide relief for the club and its members; and to allow the club to subsidise the dresses, providing financial relief for families with more than one family member as a registered player.

“According to the 2016 census, individuals and families in Narrogin have incomes below the national average and some members have themselves and multiple children registered, so we hope this grant will make the club more accessible,” Mrs Thornton said.

The Narrogin and Districts Netball Association competition starts in May and registration is next Wednesday.

“Come along and try on the uniforms; you can register online and then just pay fees on the day, but especially if you’re new to town, this is the day to come down and chat to the committee about the club,” Mrs Thornton said.

Sport really is the backbone of a small country community and for us to be selected in the national grant scheme, we think that’s pretty big news.”

The netball club also hope the new uniforms will encourage more players to join and grow the membership numbers.