The women’s sport of netball will finally have an official home of its own this April following the approval of its request to use the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
This was revealed by national coach Piao Fedillaga, who thanked Philippine Sports Commissioner Bong Coo.
“We have been practicing at a private gym at the RONAC building in Mandaluyong for the past months and we truly appreciate that we are getting our own venue, which we will share with handball I think,” she said.
With the sport’s exclusion from the Southeast Asian Games’ list of events, the team, mostly crossover athletes from basketball, including many-time national cager Ewon Arayi, Fedillaga is looking forward to netball’s first-ever participation in the Asian Indoor Games and Martial Arts event in Thailand in November.
The Philippine netball team finished 6th in the 2015 Singapore SEA Games, the first time the country plunged into international competition.
Since then, the sport has made some progress with 5th-place finishes in the 2017 and 2019 SEA Games. The Philippines also joined the 2018 Asian Netball Championship, where it placed ninth. Two years later, it rose to 5th place.
“We hope we get more support so we can grow this sport as we have the potential to make good,” concluded Fedillaga.