South Melbourne Districts Netball Club Information
ABOUT SOUTH MELBOURNE DISTRICTS NETBALL CLUB
South Melbourne District Netball Club (SMDNC) was established in 2025 and is part of the broader South Melbourne District Sports Club - a community sporting organisation based in Albert Park.
The club promotes participation in a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment and is part of a multi-sport community that includes Auskick, junior and senior football, junior and senior athletics, cricket blast and cricket.
CLUB SONG
Cheer, cheer the red and the white,
Honour the name by day and by night,
Lift that noble banner high,
Shake down the thunder from the sky
Whether the odds be great or small,
Swans will go in and win over all
While our loyal swans are marching
Onwards to victory!
Go Bloods!
CLUBROOMS
The SMDNC is located at the Clarke Shields Pavilion, Aughtie Drive, Albert Park. This is where we hold our end of year Netball Presentation Day and other functions throughout the year.
SAFE NETBALL
The SMDNC aims to provide a safe environment for our players, we are committed to the safety, participation, and empowerment of all children. We want children to be safe, happy and have an enjoyable environment within which to participate in netball.
We support and respect all children, coaches, volunteers, and netball participants. SMDNC is committed to the diversity and cultural safety of all children, including (but not limited to) the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, minors from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and minors with disabilities.
For more information regarding Child Safety in netball, please visit
https://vic.netball.com.au/child-safety-netball or www.vicsport.com.au
SPONSORS
We appreciate the valued support of all our sponsors and the important contribution they make to our Netball Club.
THANK YOU
Thank you for being apart of the South Melbourne Districts Netball Club (SMDNC). Volunteering is a rewarding and fun role which is important for the successful operation of the team.
PURPOSE
The team manager & coach supports the players by coordinating the administration and communication for training and game-day operations.
TEAM MANAGER RESPONSIBILITIES
Team managers are responsible for ensuring the following tasks are completed but are not expected to do everything personally.
Confirm training venue availability.
Confirm player availability for games and request fill in players if required.
Game day scoring roster
Represent the players and families to support communications.
Assist coach on game days.
Report injuries or incidents.
Support uniform enquiries.
Manage the equipment bag supply.
REGISTER AS A TEAM MANAGER OR COACH
All players, umpires, coaches and bench officials are required to hold a current Netball Victoria membership before the first game.
Membership covers public liability and personal injury insurance designed for netball, providing extensive coverage for players, officials and coaches wherever they train or play for the whole season, while providing vital cover to the clubs and affiliates delivering the game.
Registration can be completed using the Netball Connect App on your phone. Failure to have a current membership for required participants will result in a penalty to SMDNC.
Team managers must register as an “off the court” member through Netball Connect. There is no cost for this. Coaches must register as an ‘’on-court role’’ through Netball Connect. There is a fee for this and will be reimbursed by SMDNC. Please email your receipt and bank details to treasurer.netball@smdsc.com.au.
Players, team managers and coaches will need to renew their registration for each season. More information about fees can be found on Netball Victoria's website: Netball Connect Membership
WORKING WITH CHILDRENS CHECK (WWCC)
Netball Victoria states that all adults in positions of responsibility or authority with children (including team managers, coaches, umpires, committee members and officials) must hold a valid WWCC.
Getting a WWCC can either be done at a Post Office or online at www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au
There is no cost to getting a WWCC for volunteers.
Once you have your WWCC number, you must register SMDNC one of the organisations that you are volunteering at.
COMMUNICATION
The SMDNC communicate via WhatsApp for club information, notifications, or updates.
Please note that no person under the age of 18 is permitted to be a member of any Club WhatsApp group, with the exception of coaches who are under the age of 18 and have been approved to participate in their team's WhatsApp group.
Parents and guardians must not contact any club member under the age of 18 directly. All communication intended for a person under 18 years of age must be made through the team's WhatsApp group, ensuring that parents, guardians and other relevant team members are included in the conversation.
Any feedback, questions or concerns should be raised via the team WhatsApp group or directed to the Club President via WhatsApp or email president.netball@smdsc.com.au
If a parent or guardian contacts a club member under the age of 18 directly, they will be considered to be in breach of the Club's Child Safe Policy. Such breaches may result in a formal warning and/or disciplinary action in accordance with the Club's policies and procedures.
NETBALL
CURRENT COMPETITION
SMDNC teams compete in the Parkville Saturday morning competition.
Parkville has two Seasons per year.
Autumn Season: from February to June (Terms 1 & 2)
Spring Season: from July to December (Terms 3 & 4)
Parkville Netball operates across two venues. Teams may be scheduled at either venue depending on age group/division or Parkville court availability.
Parkville State Netball Centre, 10 Brens Drive, Parkville.
Riverside Tennis & Netball Centre, 75 Newsome Street, Ascot Vale.
RULES
Parkville plays by the world netball rules: for more information please visit: https://vic.netball.com.au/
SMDNC AVAILABLE AGE GROUPS
The SMDNC have the following teams enrolled in the Parkville competition:
NetSetGo / Go teams (Under 9’s)
11 & Under
13 & Under
15 & Under
THE SEASON
PLAYERS
Players will be allocated into teams at the beginning of each season and tend to stay in their team for the whole season. Players are required to be registered to play before the season begins.
The team manager should ensure that all players are registered (players are unable to play if they are not registered).
COACH
Teams are encouraged to appoint their own coach and team manager. Should assistance be required, the club is available to help source suitable volunteers or coaches. Any coaching fees are arranged directly between the coach and team and are paid by parents at their discretion. Often the team manager will be responsible to coordinate payment or thank you gifts for the coach.
TRAINING
SMDNC has traditionally used the Albert Park Indoor Sports Centre netball facilities (however these are currently undergoing extensive renovation). In the interim, teams are spread out through various courts within the local area. Training day / time / location is what works best for your team.
Once decided upon we can source a court that is convenient for your team to train on.
Not all parents need to attend training sessions, but the team manager should ensure there is adequate adult support available during trainings. The coach should be able to be focused on training, and another adult should be available to assist in case of minor incidents or injury, or emergency.
PARKVILLE NETBALL GAMES
Games are 40 minutes in duration. They are made up of four 9-minute quarters with a 1-minute break in-between each quarter.
Most teams will play at the same time each week with the fixtures released in advance. Given the size of the competition (approximately 550 teams and 6,000 players weekly), fixture changes do occur so need to be checked before each game.
FINALS
There are no finals for the Go teams (Under 9’s) and the Under 11’s, they are allocated an additional two rounds at the end of the season.
Finals eligibility for Under 13 and Under 15 are;
Week 1
Semi Final 1: 1st on Ladder v 2nd on Ladder
Semi Final 2: 3rd on Ladder v 4th on Ladder
Week 2
Preliminary Final: Loser SF1 v Winner SF2
Week 3
Grand Final: Winner of SF1 v Winner PF
PHOTOGRAPHY & PHOTO CONSENT
Under no circumstances are photos/videos to be taken *during competition* at Parkville or Riverside without approaching the Competition Supervisor to fill out a Photography permission form.
UMPIRES
Each club is required to provide one umpire each per match. SMDNC secure game day umpires for each team. This should not be a concern for the team manager, however if your team umpire is running late, the team will be penalised 1 point per minute that the umpire is late until the game can commence.
SMDNC has zero tolerance for abuse of umpires.
GAME DAY
The team manager can prepare for game days by:
Sharing the responsibilities across all families.
Ensuring that parents/carers have downloaded the Netball Connect App.
Ensuring players are available for games.
Communicating final game final time, venue & court details.
GAME DAY ATTENDANCE
On Netball Connect there is a function where you can select whether you child is playing that week. Ensure you are in the child’s profile by using the ‘more’ button (three dot’s at the bottom right-hand corner of your Netball Connect App) in there you will find at the top the option to ‘switch profile’ click on your child’s profile then on the ‘home’ button on the bottom left-hand side of the app. There you will see the next playing game and the option to click on ‘yes’ or ‘no’ this will register whether your child can play that game or not.
SCORER
Each week a parent/carer from each competing team is required to sit at the table and record the scores. The home team is allocated to record scores on their Netball Connect App, and the opposition team is required to score using the Parkville electronic scorer.
The game times are automatically set by Parkville and can be adjusted if there is any delay.
On game day the coach or the team manager needs to confirm the final team players on the team prior to the game beginning. team managers are required to register any fill in players using the Netball Connect App. Failure to do so could result in Parkville issuing a breach on your team.
Click on ‘home’ button.
Click on your game.
Click team selection.
Select all players playing that game.
If you need to ‘borrow’ a player from another team, click on the ‘borrow player’ button and search the players name.
Please note; this function will only be available in your netball connect if you have registered.
PLAYER AVAILABILITY AND FILL INS
MATCH DAY MINIMUM PLAYERS
A full team consists of 7 players on the court; teams may start the game with a minimum of 5 players on the court.
If a team does not have enough players for game day and wish to forfeit, they must notify the club within 48 hours’ notice from game day to enable the club to notify Parkville, failure to do so will incur a monetary fine to the club from Parkville.
AVAILABILITY PROCESS
The team manager is responsible for ensuring there are enough players available each week. If the team does not have 7 players available, they should notify the WhatsApp group for their age group asking other teams if they have players available.
FINDING FILL IN PLAYERS
If your team requires a substitute player, this will need to be organised in advance. Please use your team WhatsApp chat or the Waitlist/Fill-In Players WhatsApp chat to request a player. The Waitlist chat is made up of your age group coaches and team managers and can be your go-to chat to arrange fill in players from SMDNC.
Waitlist fill in player is waiting to join a team in the coming season.
Players from other SMDNC teams can play up a division however are unable to play down a division. Players are only permitted to play in a higher division or age group and may play a maximum of three (3) games per season.
Please ensure you use Netball Connect to allocate the player to your game. This will allow the player to be included in your team selection.
Single Game Voucher: this option is available for players who are filling in for a team and are not registered elsewhere. A single game voucher covers the player registration and insurance for that specific game. Please contact Rachelle on 0405 233 862 to receive the registration link to purchase a single game voucher.
PLAYER INTERCHANGE
All players in a team are valuable. No player should spend more time on the bench than others throughout the season. It is up to the coach and team manager to ensure that players are placed on the interchange in a manner that balances the interests of each player and the team.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Each week Vouchers is presented to a player/s by the coach. To help recognise the sponsor generosity, please take a photo of each weekly award recipient and post it in the group chat. These photos may be shared on our social medial pages to recognise both the players and the sponsors who make these awards possible.
END OF YEAR PRESENTATION
The SMDNC host an annual Netball Presentation Day each November to celebrate the achievements of our players and the year as a whole. During this event, players are recognised for their participation and accomplishments, with netball trophies presented to commemorate the year. If you would like to be involved and help organise this day; please reach out to president.netball@smdsc.com.au
VOTING
At the end of the year, two players in each team are presented: the Best and Fairest Award and the coach’s award. To ensure the integrity and fairness of the award process, all voting must be conducted in an unbiased and consistent manner.
Coaches are responsible for recording their votes each week via the Netball Connect app.
This feature will only be activated on your Netball Connect App if you are registered as a coach.
FEES AND MEMBERSHIP
REGISTERING EACH PLAYER
Team and player registration is required for each season. During the registration process, you will be required to pay your child’s Netball Insurance once per year under ‘Netball Victoria Membership’
SMDNC REGISTRATION FEES
Each player’s season club fee covers;
SMDNC membership.
Team entry fee to play at Parkville competition.
Netball Victoria Registration for the coach.
Direct fee for game day umpires.
Game day court hire.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
If a child is interested in playing netball and is facing challenges with covering the prospect of paying fees, we warmly encourage the family or carer to reach out to the club. Support is available, and we are committed to ensuring everyone has the opportunity to play Netball.
NETBALL VICTORIA - NETBALL CONNECT
Netball connect is used for; Registrations, Fixtures, Results, Clearance, scoring, game day player selection.
Please ensure families download the Netball Connect app. They will need to create a profile and link it to the South Melbourne Districts Netball Club and the current season their child is playing in. This will enable parents and carers to view game times, assist with scoring and view live scoring.
Scoring volunteer: any parents who may assist with scoring will need to register as an “off the court” member through Netball Connect. There is no cost for this.
PLAYER MEMEBRSHIP WITH NETBALL VICTORIA
Players must be registered with Netball Victoria using Netball Connect. This is paid separately to the SMDNC fees and can be paid directly online. Registration is compulsory before a player can take the court.
The Club will send parents and carers a registration link via Netball Connect to allow each child to be registered as a player. Players are required to register as a player ‘’on-court role’’.
As with the team manager and coach membership, player membership covers public liability and personal injury insurance designed for netball, providing extensive coverage for players wherever they train or play for the whole season, while providing vital cover to the clubs and affiliates delivering the game.
Note: players are unable to play at Parkville without Netball Insurance.
Current Netball Victoria Insurance prices can be found on Netball Victoria's website: Netball Connect Membership
TEAMS AND GRADING
The first three rounds of each season are grading rounds; Parkville have the right to move teams from divisions to ensure a fair playing environment.
As the Club continues to grow and the number of players and teams increases, there is naturally a broader range of playing abilities across the Club.
Having a highly skilled player in a lower-graded team may limit both their development and the opportunities of their teammates. Likewise, having a developing player in a team above their current ability can affect their confidence, enjoyment of the game, and overall experience.
Our aim is to move towards placing players in teams with others of a similar skill level to create an environment where all players are appropriately challenged, skill level development and supported whilst also making new friendships/teammates.
END OF YEAR TEAM CHANGES
At the conclusion of the year, the club reviews all team placements. A player’s playing age is determined as of 31st December each year. As a result, some players may automatically progress to a high age division based on their age eligibility and may/may not remain with all their current teammates.
REP TEAMS - TRY OUTS
Our Club does not currently have a representative team. However, if your child plays Under 13 or above they automatically qualify to try out for a Parkville Netball Association Rep Team. Further details can be found at https://www.parkvillenetball.com.au/parkville-rep
TEAM EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
Each team will be provided with a SMDNC training bag, two netballs, whistle, ball pump, reversable training bibs and velcro game day bibs. Managers should maintain a register of team equipment. Please advise Club officials if you need any items replaced
UNFIORM
The playing uniform is a dress and shorts and can be ordered as a set or separately and is paid additionally to the season fees.
To order your netball uniform, speak to your team manager or please email president.netball@smdsc.com.au
New uniforms are ordered in bulk at the start of each season; however, a one-off uniform purchase mid-season will incur additional postage fees. Allow for a 2-3 week turn around.
SECOND HAND UNIFORMS
Please join our second-hand uniform chat group to buy, swap, sell, or enquire about pre-loved club uniforms.
BEHAVIOR EXPECTATIONS
All members of the South Melbourne District Netball Club are expected to behave in a safe, inclusive and respectful environment for everyone involved.
Expected behaviour by parents, coaches and supporters.
Be a positive role model.
Support kids to enjoy the game – don’t pressure them.
Focus on fun and effort, not winning.
Never ridicule mistakes or losses.
Respect all players, officials, and spectators.
Value volunteers and the time they give.
Never abuse or criticise umpires – raise concerns privately.
Avoid offensive or discriminatory language or behaviour.
Expected behaviour by players.
Follow the rules of the game.
Respect umpires, coaches, officials, teammates, and opponents.
Never argue with umpires or officials.
Control your temper – no swearing, abuse or rough conduct.
Be a team player - support and encourage teammates.
Treat others fairly and with kindness.
Work with your coach, teammates and officials.
Play for fun, improvement, and team spirit.
Never use offensive or discriminatory language or behaviour.
Show good sportsmanship – leave the game on the field and be respectful online.
Arrive at training in a timely manner.
Avoid using your mobile phone at training.
Please see the links to Netball Victoria Code of Conduct for more information: https://vic.netball.com.au/code-of-conduct
Parkville Netball has a range of policies in place to ensure a safe, fun and inclusive environment to all members. Below are links to Parkville Netball policies and forms:
Parkville Complaints Process Document - The club must approve complaints before submission
Netball Victoria Insurance Claims
Certificate of Currency for Clubs
Photography/videography Registration Form
INJURY MANAGEMENT
If an injury is sustained during a match, the team manager should assess the level of injury and either:
Assist the parents/ carers
Notify venue officials
Call emergency services if required
If a player sustains an injury and cannot return to play, then a written record of the injury should be completed. This will support injured players to be in the best position to be able to claim insurance cover. It is also important to notify the SMDNC admin as soon as possible.
Please use common sense when notifying accidents/injuries. (e.g. a strained hamstring, or a bruised finger is highly unlikely to lead to extensive medical treatment and a claim, so a report may not be required; while a torn Achilles tendon or knocked-out teeth may result in an insurance claim). If in doubt, report the accident/injury.
Concussion protocols: It is recommended that in the event of head knocks that coaches and team managers utilise the AIS Concussion in Sport Guidelines https://www.ausport.gov.au/concussion
The Club recommends coaches and team managers utilise a concussion assessment (such as the Head Check app).
A player with a suspected or actual concussion is not to continue playing for the remainder of the game or training session. All suspected or actual concussions must be reported to the Club, including any suspected or actual concussion incidents occurring out of Club netball activities.
CLUB CONTACTS
President: Rachelle Simm / 0405 233 862 / president.netball@smdsc.com.au
Treasurer: Kristy Skipworth / treasurer.netball@smdsc.com.au
Secretary: Kelly Brown / secretary.netball@smdsc.com.au
Child Safe Officer: Emily Shields / 0418 537 026 / president.netball@smdsc.com.au