Silver Ferns goal attack Ameliaranne Ekenasio took the first shot at goal on Saturday to officially open the Eastern Bay of Plenty 2025 netball season at the Nita Shannon courts in Whakatāne.

With the ball in the net, a record number of teams then took to the court in the collegiate and open women’s grades.
Ekenasio has jumped on board as an ambassador for Whakatāne netball in 2025 and on Saturday showed why she’s so popular.

“She was taking photos with everyone and is just a really lovely person. We couldn’t speak highly enough about her,” Whakatane Netball Centre president Al Fenwick said.
“Having her there for opening day provided a real lift for all the players and plenty of them were getting selfies and chatting to her.

Fenwick said opening day went “amazingly well”.

“The weather turned out great, and it was all really positive.”
Fenwick said more teams than ever had signed up this season, coming Kawerau to Te Whānau Apanui and everywhere in between.

“Things are really healthy; it’s the most we’ve ever had in our adult and college competition.”
As a centre, Fenwick said Whakatāne Netball was trying to remove the barriers to play and make the sport as inexpensive, and enjoyable as possible.

“We want to encourage females in sport because we know there is a big drop off in that when they leave school,” he said.

“We want a friendly, fun environment here at netball and focus on those really young age groups to make it accessible and fun. It’s a good way to get people out and active.”

Fenwick said the younger players enjoyed having Ekenasio on site and it created a really positive atmosphere.

“If you were to look at it in a rugby capacity, it’s like having the All Black captain come along. It means a lot having her involved with us and someone of that magnitude coming to Whakatāne.”

Fenwick said they hoped to use Ekenasio throughout the season to lead clinics with up-and-coming EBOP netballers.

“She has her own netball commitments, but we’re going to get her back as much as we can to run clinics with our rep teams or any way, we can to promote netball in the Eastern Bay. She is a lovely person.”

Having been in charge for a year, Fenwick is enjoying the role of centre president but is quick to emphasise the team effort involved in running netball in the Eastern Bay.

“I couldn’t have done it without the amazing and dedicated team I have to support me.”