Netball tri-series - Cook Islands v Scotland (2)

 
Wow! What a game. 
The local girls were on fire  from the first whistle and put on a performance to be proud of. 
The Cooks potted the first few goals and a somewhat shell-shocked Scotland team was forced to play catch-up. 
The Scots soon settled down but this time the Cooks weren't overawed; the intercepts and passes were accurate and our shooters didn't waste many attempts. 
In the last quarter the Scots poured on the pressure but the Cookies didn't panic and, spurred on by vocal and happy spectators, they held on the take the game 36-34.

Netball tri-series - Cook Islands v Scotland

The second game in the netball tri-series proved to be disappointing for the Cook Islands' girls.
They'd had a tough match on the previous night against the super-fit Welsh, and they failed to fire against the Scots.
Everyone put in a solid effort and there were some good individual performances but  unforced arrors and missed passes made the Cookies look slow and the fired-up Scots pulled off some superb intercepts and pounced on loose ball to flick to their  circle where the shooters were in great form.
The final score was 25-55.
However you need to remember that Scotland is hosting the next Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, 2014, and with netball being one of the codes at the games they are going all out to  nurture the team and make sure that it is not only competitive but has a good chance at a medal. The fact that, in 2012, they are  planning two years ahead shows how serious they are.
Our girls have the ability and a good fighting spirit but we just aren't able to organise international experience and game time. We're a small country in the middle of the South Pacific ocean and it's expensive to travel overseas.
Netball Cook Islands deserves congratulations for organising a series like this one to bring top class players to Rarotonga.
And they've got another tournament planned for December - Netball in Paradise. This is an age-grade event with teams from Ausralia, Fiji, Niue and New Zealand as well as the Cook Islands entering Under 13, Under 15, Under 17 and Under 19 teams.
Netball fans check out the Netball Cook Islands website for match reports and the NCI Facebook page to keep up with events over here.

Netball tri-series - Cook Islands v Wales

International netball has taken centre stage recently with Rarotonga's netball tri-series.
Wales, currently ranked 10 in the world and Scotland, ranked 15, are here to play the Cook Islands.
Our current rank is 13 but unfortunately it looks as though we might be heading down.
The first match was against Wales who were very impressive, fit, fast moving, accurate passes, a classy team.
The home side matched them goal for goal for the first few minutes but as the Welsh picked up the pace the Cooks made many unforced errors.
Our defenders pulled off some great intercepts but in mid-court the opposition grabbed the ball back far too often.
It was a gutsy performance but in the end Wales were convincing winners by 65 goals to 29.
Next up Cook Islands v Scotland.

Te Maeva Nui 2012 - Mauke kapa rima

This video shows part of Mauke’s kapa rima (action song) at the Maeva Nui dance competition in July/August this year.
The audience loved it and so did the judges – it was awarded an A grade.