🏐 Maccabi Ajax Netball Club
From our youngest Pups learning the basics to our senior teams taking the court under lights, Maccabi Ajax Netball Club remains a thriving, community-driven club built on volunteer passion, skill development, and friendship. As we head into 2026 and look toward Maccabiah, our goal is simple: keep every player engaged, challenged, and proud to wear the Maccabi blue and green.
2025 Impact
The 2025 Autumn season saw strong participation and engagement across all programs, reflecting stability in the junior divisions and resilience in the senior space following the post-COVID rebuild.
📊 Participation Summary
- 211 Juniors registered at CDNA or KDNA
- 49 Seniors, including 5 dual-level players
- 10 Pups enrolled in the introductory program
- 27 total teams across the club
- 265 total registered members
🏐 Team Breakdown by Association
- KDNA: 6 teams (1 NetSetGO, 5 U11 rotation teams – non-finals)
- CDNA: 16 teams (5 U13, 8 U15, 3 U18)
- PNA Seniors: 4 Wednesday teams
- Waverley Seniors: 1 Monday team
Led by Nat Roth, the Pups program continues to offer Year 2–3 girls a welcoming, non-competitive introduction to netball.
This year brought a new challenge when CDNA was unable to allocate the usual 5:30 pm Tuesday training court, citing growth within the association. After exploring alternatives, the club accepted a 4:45 pm timeslot, which, while earlier, allowed the program to continue.
With assistants unavailable at that time, Nat ran the smaller sessions independently, supported as needed by other coaches. As of 30 June, there were 10 registered Pups, with additional players joining later in the season. The club hopes to see many of these girls transition into competitive teams next year.
In 2025 Julia Teperson stepped in as the new KDNA Coordinator, quickly introducing positive operational improvements and more consistent communication. Julia has gone above and beyond, regularly covering early-morning duty set-ups when extra help was unavailable.
While communication with KDNA remains an ongoing challenge, Julia continues to advocate strongly for better processes.
👏 Representative Success:
Congratulations to Tamar Ognall, Charlie Rosenberg and Mackenzie Mathews on selection to the U11 Representative Team.
Encouraging players to transition to CDNA after KDNA U13 Rep selection remains a work in progress. Although the club was asked to enter a U13 KDNA team, this was not feasible due to broader rep commitments across Bayside, Stonnington and other programs.
MANC entered 16 teams in the Autumn 2025 competition, with seven reaching finals — a strong showing across divisions.
🏆 Grand Final Performances:
- U15 Ravens – Division 5 Premiers
- U15 Penguins – Division 5 Runners-up
Also reaching finals: U13 Jaguars, U15 Hummingbirds, Crows, Eagles, Ravens, and U18 Rebels.
Despite the success, grading inconsistencies at CDNA continued to create frustration. The club remains in active dialogue with the association to push for fairer systems.
MANC maintained committee representation through Bec Wolman (who completed her term this year), and Kelly Naphtali has since nominated to provide a fresh perspective.
Special thanks go to Romi, Rachelle and Sam for jointly coordinating CDNA operations — managing meetings, fill-ins and logistics in close collaboration with Natalie.
👏 Representative Honours:
Congratulations to Charlotte Ryan, Abbey Terry, Summer Klinger, Rachel Naphtali, Charlie Blackstone, Lily Golvan and Evie Finkle on selection to the CDNA Representative Program.
The senior club continues to rebuild post-COVID, thanks in large part to the leadership of Carrie whose contributions over recent years have been exceptional. Carrie has now stepped down, and the club expresses deep gratitude for her service.
Her work in creating a structured pathway between juniors and seniors has already paid dividends, with multiple U18 players now competing confidently at senior level.
🏐 Autumn 2025 Competition:
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Stonnington City Netball Association: 4 teams (no training)
– Emeralds – Grand Final Winners
– Gems – Grand Final Runners-up -
Waverley Night Netball Association: 1 team (no training)
The club is currently seeking a Seniors Coordinator to oversee program administration and maintain continuity. Without this role, senior operations will face limitations in 2026.
The 2025 season strengthened the club’s coaching framework under Head Coach Christina Puopolo, who introduced structured training plans, a refreshed assistant-coach pathway, and mentor sessions with Laura Joyce.
- 25 coaches and 2 assistants now make up the coaching group.
- Four new parent coaches joined: Chantel Klein, Bianca Jackson, Daniel Faigen, and Naomi Sussman, alongside returning coach Sam Blackstone.
- The assistant-to-coach program successfully advanced Abbie Dodge, Emmi Ben-Moshe, Ari Barson Boon, and Maya Lipton into full coaching roles.
Beyond association competitions, several club members achieved distinction:
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Rachel Naphtali (U15 Div 1) represented CDNA Rep, competed nationally in Perth and was selected for the National Squad at just 12 years old.
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Lara Dodge, Jacquie Zaslavsky, Gisele Berman (youth) and Kate Lustig, Pippa Davis, Arianna Hurst (senior) were selected for Team Australia – Maccabiah 2026.
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Co-President Omer Ben Moshe and Paul Berman were appointed Team Managers for the Australian Maccabiah squads.
MANC’s success continues to rely on the commitment of its volunteers, coaches and sponsors:
- SIP (Slomoi Immerman Partners)
- The Joint Physiotherapy
- PaperKrane
- Bluegum
- P2P Planned 2 Perfection Events
Special thanks to Julia Teperson for managing uniforms and to the entire committee for their ongoing support of the club’s growth.
🎯 Priorities for the Year Ahead
- Appoint a Seniors Coordinator to sustain program momentum.
- Strengthen the junior-to-senior pathway.
- Expand coach development and retention programs.
- Advocate for improved court access and consistent grading.
