The team lists for the 2010 ANZ Championship offer strong evidence that Netball New Zealand's event programmes and player pathways are successfully channelling fresh talent into the country's elite franchise teams.

Of the sixty players that have signed with the five New Zealand squads, fourteen will be making their ANZ Championship debuts. All but four of these players have progressed from one or more of New Zealand's major events in 2009: the Perry Foundation National Championships, Lois Muir Challenge, national Age-Group and Secondary Schools tournaments.

Those ten newcomers and their 2009 teams, with their 2010 ANZ Championship teams in brackets are:

Alanah Cassidy - NZU21, Western U21 (Pulse)
Amy Christophers - NZ Secondary Schools, Bay of Plenty U19, Otumoetai College (Magic)
Kayla Cullen - NZU21, NZSS, Auckland Waitakere U19 & U21, Auckland Girls' Grammar (Mystics)
Bailey Mes - Auckland Waitakere, Auckland Waitakere U21 (Mystics)
Emma Moynihan - Otago (Steel)
Hannah Poff - Canterbury U21 (Tactix)
Daya Pritchard - Wellington (Pulse)
Hayley Saunders - Otago, Otago U21 (Steel)
Ashleigh Smith - NZSS, Southland, Southland U19, St Peter's College (Tactix)
Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick - NZSS, Auckland Waitakere U19, St Cuthbert's College (Mystics)

The other four players making their ANZ Championship debuts this year are: former Silver Fern Anna Galvan and former AIS player Chelsea Pitman (Tactix), former Australian Diamond Peta Scholz and former National Bank Cup player Tanya Lund (Magic).

A total of eight members of the 2010 NZU21 Squad have already progressed to ANZ Championship teams: Kayla Cullen, Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick (Mystics), Elias Shadrock (Magic), Te Amo Amaru-Tibble, Alanah Cassidy (Pulse),Ellen Halpenny, Ashleigh Smith (Tactix), and Hayley Saunders (Steel).

A further six players from the 2009 NZU21 team have already had at least one ANZ Championship season and all have won places in franchise teams again this year. They are: Grace Rasmussen (Mystics), Paula Griffin, Camilla Lees (Pulse), Hayley Crofts, Charlotte Kight (Tactix) and Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit (Steel). Griffin, Kight, Lees and Rasmussen are also members of the 2010 Silver Ferns squad.

The benefits of competing at ANZ Championship level flow back to regional teams and events as well. For instance, the 2009 Wellington side which won promotion to the top Division of 1^st Grade at the Perry Foundation National Championships included seven past or current Pulse players; and the 1^st Grade Final between Southland and Auckland Waitakere featured five Steel players, and five Mystics players. Playing with and against these women encourages the next group of talented young athletes to move to higher levels of competition.

It's interesting to see the diverse paths individual players are taking as they seek progressive challenges in the sport, while pursuing study, career and family goals. For some, the transition from regional and national age-group teams is relatively straightforward; others spend more time in development at regional level before pressing for selection in an ANZ Championship squad. Whichever path they choose, the structures, events and programmes developed and managed by Netball New Zealand and its 12 affiliated regions are all designed to support their development as far as their ability, ambition and hard work will take them.