Whakatāne High School’s Ariana Dawson continues to do her school and EBOP netball community proud.

After shining at the UNISS netball tournament in Auckland last year where she helped Whakatāne High School take out the B grade, Ariana has been on Netball NZ’s radar.

The 16-year-old is a fabulous defender, with the ability to leap high and claim some impressive rebounds, while also reading the game well.

She was one of 30 players from the Waibop region selected to trial at the Netball New Zealand camp in January.

“It was good. It was hard work and I’m glad I had been doing extra fitness training, as that certainly helped,” she said.

The camp focused on fitness testing to see how the girls were tracking.

Attending and being part of the 24-strong training squad selected from 90 trialists was exciting.

“I am super excited to be part of that squad. It’s a cool opportunity ... I wasn’t sure whether I would make it or not,” she said.

Her selection shows it does not matter what school you attend or what division you play at UNISS because you can get noticed .

Ariana’s feat is all the more impressive because she was the only player selected who did not attend nationals.

Ahead of the final trial, she is working on maintaining her fitness.

“We will just have the final trial and then I guess, if I make that squad, there will be extra trainings.”