INFQ Junior State Championships 2014

In2Indoor published all of the fixtures and results of the recent INFQ Junior State Championships, which is one of if not the biggest indoor netball tournament in the world. Tracey Cossi, the INFQ Operations Manager and Tournament Director has given us a bit more information about the tournament and what it takes to put on.

Indoor Netball Federation of Queensland hosts the Junior State Championships every year at Ipswich Showground’s at the Ipswich Indoor Sports Centre which is owned by Leah and Kevin Ala-Outinen. INFQ has been hosting the Junior State Championships for nearly 20 years and the numbers grow consistently every year.

In 2013 the number of teams competing was 96, so the 2014 tournament had to be split into two tournaments. Numbers are now up to 120 teams with 91 teams at Ipswich Indoor Sports Centre and 29 teams at Victoria Point Indoor Sports Centre. Competing grades at this tournament are:

Ipswich Indoor Sports Centre:

• 10 & under Girls / Boys (max 3 boys on court at any one time)
• 12 & under Girls / Boys (max 3 boys on court at any one time)
• 14 & under Girls
• 14 & under Mixed
• 16 & under Mixed

Victoria Point Indoor Sports Centre:

• 16 & under Girls
• 18 & under Mixed

The Ipswich Showground’s have now also extended their camping/caravan areas due to the growth of teams, so that families can now stay at a cost of around $20 per night rather than spend $150+ per night in a hotel room. Not only has the showground’s extended their camping/caravan area to accommodate this, you will find that nearly all hotels/motels in Ipswich are usually booked out due to families booking months or sometimes even a year in advance, just to ensure they get their preferred accommodation.

This year’s two-weekend tournament had a total of 120 teams with seven divisions.  For the Ipswich tournament a total of 422 games were played over 4 days with all six courts being used for all time slots on every day. On our biggest days (Friday & Saturday) first game starts at 8am and last game finishes at 8.45pm – not a single court was free for this entire tournament!

A successful tournament would not be possible without the team in white. More than 30 umpires were required to take the court during the 4 days coming from a wide variety of centers and many were also tested for their junior state level badges. This tournament provides not only a platform for player development it also provides a platform for umpires to develop and be coached.

This is such a big event for Indoor Netball Federation of Queensland to run - and it just gets bigger and bigger every year. The Junior State Championships is an event that everyone loves coming back to even if they are too old to continue playing they come back and help their clubs by coaching, managing and umpiring the kids. INFQ makes sure that this event is first and foremost about the kids having fun whilst playing this magnificent game we call Indoor Netball.

Not only have the management of Ipswich Showground’s extended their camping area they have also be kind enough to open the shed behind the Sports Centre for teams to set up a seating area so that they are not all sitting outside in the sun or having people standing shoulder to shoulder inside the Sports Centre.

Kevin & Leah Ala-Outinen do an amazing job at hosting this tournament; they organize not only their canteen staff but have a full staff on hand at the BBQ area, where they provide the best steak burgers in town. If you are feeling like an authentic barista coffee, they have that covered as well, with a James coffee van on hand from first thing in the morning till late at night.

With Kevin & Leah at the helm you can always ensure that they provide a clean and well-presented indoor facility. It is an enormous task to ensure that all courts are maintained without any holes in the nets, carpeting is all to regulation and the computerized score boards are ready for use.

Over 100 people stay for presentation & announcement of State teams

From the Junior State Championship Tournament INFQ select 8 teams to tour to the Junior Nationals Indoor Netball Championships. This year it is being held in Perth, Western Australia. The 8 teams touring to Perth are:

• 12 & Under Girls – Sparks
• 12 & Under Girls – Blaze
• 14 & Under Girls – Fever
• 14 & Under Girls – Infernos
• 16 & Under Girls – Heat
• 16 & Under Girls – Lightning
• 16 & Under Mixed – Flames
• 16 & Under Mixed – Wildfires

With the eight teams, INFQ will be sending 7 umpires and 4 sports trainer, and a Tour Director.

INFQ has a two day development program for the grades that are not touring, 10 & Under Girls and 14 & Under Mixed. These days are designed to bring them together using a specially designed coaching format, to assist them in developing the skills of Indoor Netball.

Here’s looking forward to an even more successful and rewarding tournament for 2015.

In2Indoor would like to extend a special thanks to Tracey and INFQ for this article and their continued support of In2Indoor.

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