Mid Canterbury Netball handed out service awards to three long-serving volunteers at their recent AGM (from left) Kaye Kennedy, Leonie Donald and Claire Corbett. Photo supplied.Three long-serving members of the Mid Canterbury Netball community have been officially recognised for their years of work.

Claire Corbett, Kaye Kennedy and Leonie Donald were all presented with service awards at the Mid Canterbury Netball AGM recently.

Corbett has been involved in netball in Mid Canterbury for the past 19 years and has helped in all areas of the sport. She began umpiring in 1999, was selected in the Mid Canterbury umpire development squad in 2002 and 2003 and coached theory for many years as well as being a regional umpire trainer.

She always kept herself up to date, attending New Zealand umpire seminars, centre tester training and regional umpire training, and was a member of the regional sponsorship panel and an accredited umpire coach and assessor at New Zealand level.

In 2003 and 2004 Corbett led rules sessions every Saturday during the season for umpires, coaches and players wanting to better understand the rules, and she umpired representative fixtures and Mid Canterbury Netball competition games.

She has served on many committees and was always a valued member of them all.

Kennedy has also had a long involvement in all areas of the game after passing her local level one umpire award in 1999 and going to on pass her regional exam and New Zealand qualifying exam in 2003.

In 2004 Kennedy was named in the New Zealand umpire development squad and in 2005 she was appointed to the New Zealand Age Group Champs, and was selected to the New Zealand Umpire Development Squad from there. She was also appointed to the New Zealand Scotwood Trust Champs in Dunedin that same year.

She was on the centre tester panel for seven years, also an umpire squad coach, and tutored umpires for their theory exams for 10 years, and for three years was an accredited umpire coach and assessor at New Zealand level.

Kennedy was also on the Borough School Sports committee and had been on the Ashburton College Netball Club committee for the past two years, coaching teams from both schools including the College A side this season.

She has also been a Mid Canterbury selector of the U17 representative team.

Donald’s involvement in Mid Canterbury netball spanned the past 20 years, and she’d been a part of the Methven Netball Club for the past 23 years.

Still a member of the Methven Netball Club, Donald has held many posts within the club over the years and coached numerous Methven club teams, as well as umpiring at Methven player development camps and assisting with club umpiring sessions.

She became a local level 3 umpire in 1999 and the following year passed her Canterbury regional award and completed New Zealand Theory part A in 2001.

She had umpired competition and representative games in Mid Canterbury for the past 17 years and has also umpired at the South Island Secondary Schools’ Tournament.

Donald has assisted with New Zealand test banks of questions sessions, was an umpire examiner at local level, appointed umpires to representative fixtures and helped at junior umpire sessions.

She has umpired Mid Canterbury local competitions for the past 18 years and umpired representative fixtures, as well as being a bench official for the last three years and serving on the umpire committee for 20 years.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 13 December 2018