Sue Hawkins, who is now the NSW Institute of Sport senior netball coach, was the special guest at a Western Region Academy of Sport training session on Sunday.

Hawkins helped to teach the young netballers the basics of netball and to also mentor the other coaches on her techniques as a coach. 

“We were teaching them about the principles of both attack and defence, also the importance of the responsibility of the ball handler,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins was impressed with the talent on display.

“It was a young group of girls and I was quite impressed with all of them,” she said.

There was 12 coaches and 15 players who attended the two-hour training session at the Orange PCYC.

The 15 girls were made up players aged between 14 and 17 years, and these girls were selected in the WRAS program because of their netball abilities and are placed in the academy for 12 months and can attend six camps throughout the year.

The academy had five representatives from Orange, including Emily Brisbane, Brooke Burcher, Beth Curtin, Tara Nagle and Abby Tilburg.