The 2008 edition of the Marriaqua Co-operative Credit Union Marriaqua Sports Association Netball Tournament opens this Sunday afternoon at the usual venue, the Richland Park Government School Hardcourt.{{more}}

The competition is set to open at 3pm, with the March Past of teams and addresses from Netball, sponsors and government officials.

And, it will be action right away, with the star studded High Park United facing Yanja Young Strugglers in the opening fixture, as the competition begins in earnest.

Presiding over her first major task since being elevated to the top spot of the Marriaqua Sports Association will be Lyn Marie Nicholls.

The first female President of the MSA, Nicholls told SEARCHLIGHT last Wednesday that she expects the usual high standard of competition, as well as the customary community participation.

The female President said that they were putting a lid of ten teams in the senior division of the competition.

She said that in addition to the senior competition, her organization will once again host the secondary and primary schools division, as they seek to involve the schools in the Marriaqua Valley.

But many are hoping that this will be the last occasion that the competition will be staged at the school grounds, as hopes are for a new hardcourt – a joint project between the Social Investment Fund and the MSA should make that a reality.

The hardcourt will be in the vicinity of the former Richland Park Clinic, next to the Richland Park Playing Field, commonly called The Oval.

The Marriaqua Valley has been the lone constituency without a hard court facility, but has produced top netballers of the likes of Skiddy Francis-Crick, Michelle Francis, Saska Diamond, Anella Samuel, and Leanna Lewis, among others. (RT)