In what is believed to be a first for Netball Wairarapa, rising star Sovaia Sabutu has been called into the New Zealand Secondary School [NZSS] team to play in Australia later this month.
The talented Wairarapa College defender was among 24 players who attended a national training camp in Auckland in April after being identified at a Central Zone training camp.
Sabutu,16, initially missed the cut for the 14-strong squad to travel to Australia but has now been called up and will travel with the team to Australia.
The NZSS team will be involved in the under-19 Australian camp and have some vital international play which has been missing in the past three years due to the global pandemic.
Sabutu played an integral role in the Waicol team that won the last two Wairarapa Premier One Championships and was last year named Netball Wairarapa’s senior player of the year, an outstanding achievement as she had played much of the season as a 15-year-old.