West Coast Fever players experienced WA’s golden outback in March as they kicked off their preseason, treating the community to two action-packed games in Kalgoorlie-Boulder and a day of community clinics.

As the Principal Partner of Netball WA, West Coast Fever and Shooting Stars, the Gold Industry Group supported the stars return to the region after the success of their inaugural trip last year, in conjunction with the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries and the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

They started their four-day experience with site visits to Northern Star Resources’ KCGM Super Pit and Gold Fields’ St Ives Gold Mine.

Eager to see and explore the famous Super Pit, Courtney Bruce, Verity Charles, Jess Antiss, Stacey Francis, Jhaniele Fowler and Alice Teague-Neeld had fun learning about the operation and interacting with the site teams.

Fever midcourt player Verity Charles spoke on behalf of the team about how much they enjoyed exploring the Super Pit.

West Coast Fever with Shooting Stars participants

“I’m really grateful to the Gold Industry Group for bringing us out here. We’re so lucky that they do, and we get to work with these beautiful people,” Verity said.

80 kilometres south of the city, Emma Cosh, Sunday Aryang, Sasha Glasgow, and Olivia Lewis visited St Ives Gold Mine, where they were welcomed by Gold Fields General Manager St Ives Bevan Jones and Gold Industry Group Chair and Gold Fields Vice President Legal and Compliance Kelly Carter.

West Coast Fever with GIG Executive Officer Rebecca Johnston at Northern Star’s Super Pit lookout

The players were awestruck witnessing liquid gold transform into a gleaming gold bar. They also enjoyed exploring its most significant discovery, The Invincible, an impressive high-grade gold deposit that was first mined as an open pit and is now an underground mine.

Fever frontline player Sasha Glasgow acknowledged their relationship with GIG and expressed her delight at learning more about gold in the tour.

West Coast Fever vs All Star Men’s team at Goldfields Oasis Recreation Centre

“I think our relationship with GIG is super important and they’re a big influence for us. I didn’t really know what was going on with mining, so it was nice to know about gold and that it’s got its own DNA and all different things like that. My mind was just exploding,” said Sasha.

On the second day of the tour, three free community clinics were attended by hundreds of local kids in Kalgoorlie and Kambalda providing a unique opportunity to learn new skills and practice a variety of netball drills under the supervision of their netball idols.

Shooting Stars participants from Laverton and Leonora also jumped on the opportunity to travel to Kalgoorlie to attend the clinic, spend invaluable time with the players and watch a match. Athletes from the Great Southern and Wheatbelt Goldfields Regional Academy Sports Program were also thrilled to attend and also had the rare opportunity to participate in a Q & A session with the players.

Narrogin Shooting Stars participant Lakkari Kickett, who won the 2020 NAIDOC Netball Carnival Gold Dress Design competition ran by the Gold Industry Group was represented by her indigenous design during the weekend’s matches, which was worn by the Men’s All-Stars team who the Fever matched up against.

Later that evening, Fever’s open training session welcomed almost 100 locals keen to see the team in action, running drills and perfecting skills before their upcoming matches with Men’s All-Stars.

The community showed their continued and overwhelming support for the team turning out in thousands at the Goldfields Oasis Recreation Centre on both their sold-out match days. Gold netballs, gold fever hats and stickers and heart of gold hats were all the rage as netball fever officially hit town.

Following a curtain-raiser game between local teams Great Southern and Wheatbelt Goldfields, Fever’s first preseason match on Saturday afternoon featured an intense thriller as Fever took victory in a 69-64 win against the Men’s All-Stars. During quarter times, the crowd’s gold knowledge was tested with a fun quiz to win limited-edition Gold Fever hats and signed gold netballs.

Fever’s second pre-season match on Sunday morning endured another impressive showdown with Men’s All-Stars dominating the game with an 84-54 victory over Fever. Halftime saw a game between NetSetGo participants from Kalgoorlie Saints Netball Club and KPS Netball Club, and each team was gifted a gold netball.

Gold Industry Group Executive Officer Rebecca Johnston said she was thrilled to see the community embrace West Coast Fever.

“The four-day tour was a huge success, providing the unique opportunity for the community to learn from and watch these world class athletes.

“It was also fantastic to have the players spend the day at the Super Pit and St Ives Gold Mine to connect with industry workers and learn more about Australia’s diverse gold industry.

“I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and appreciation from the Kalgoorlie-Boulder community,” Ms Johnston said.

The Gold Industry Group is proud to support netball in Western Australia, thanks to members Gold Fields, Northern Star Resources, AngloGold Ashanti Australia, St Barbara, Newmont Australia, Gold Road Resources, Ramelius Resources and The Perth Mint.