Two local netball talents have been given the opportunity of a lifetime and will join a high-performance program with an Australian netball club.

Local netball talents Faletogo Tovaleinuupulea Solinuu (Tovale) of Fa’atoia and Siliafai Chong Wong (Sweety) of Vaitele Fou will travel to Brisbane, Australia this week as part of a partnership with long-time bilateral partner Netball Australia, through the PacificAus program funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

According to a press release issued by Samoa Netball Association (SNA) on Sunday, the duo were identified and selected for the program. It will be an opportunity for the two players to build their netball skills and personal development, and expose them to a competitive space for them to be engaged in a high-performance environment through specialised coaching, support, fitness, nutrition, and overall well-being.

The two athletes will be immersed in the high-performance program with Ipswich Jets Netball Club, which is coached by Paula Stuart, who is also the coach for the Samoa National Under 21 team. Ipswich Jets are currently sitting comfortably at the top of the leaderboard of the Queensland state league competition HART Sapphire Series.

Netball Samoa Association CEO Rosemarie Lome said the exposure that the two players will get, through their participation in the immersion program, promotes excellence on and off the court.

“It is a great opportunity for our players to be exposed to a netball environment that differs from ours with regard to the physical and mental fitness and skills that is a requirement to play at a Premier level of competition," she said. "Also being immersed into a club culture that promotes excellence off and on the court with the ultimate goal of being a role model in their respective clubs. 

"The immersion program is the second of its kind within a year through our partnership with Netball Australia. Like our development flagship program Oriana, the office will be working and engaging with clubs to build on this immersion program to be recognised as the flagship program for our high-performance pathway."

Tovale and Sweety are both active players in Samoa's National Netball League with Tovale being a member of the SCOPA Netball Club and Sweety a member of the United Soulz Netball Club. They successfully trialled and made the local SNAC Open Women’s team which will compete in the Samoa Netball Association Club competition which sees Auckland Samoa Netball, NSW Samoa Netball, Queensland Samoa Netball, and Victoria Samoa Netball travelling to Samoa for the inaugural event from 27-30 September 2023.

SNA hopes that the participating players will be able to observe, learn, and experience as much as they possibly can whilst away on this six-week program and be able to return and apply whatever knowledge learned in Australia and give back and empower their respective clubs, community and be strong advocates for the SNA.