A new trophy will be contested in Mid Canterbury Netball’s premier competition for the first time in 2023, in memory of a past netballer renowned for her strength, determination and tenacity.

Rachel Summerfield passed away after a battle with cancer on January 2, 2022, and in the months that followed her family and her employer of 25 years VetEnt approached Mid Canterbury Netball, keen to do something in her memory.

From that, two new initiatives were born - firstly the Rachel Summerfield Memorial MVP Award which will be awarded to the person who comes out on top in a new points based MVP system in the ACL Premier 1 competition, and secondly the Rachel Summerfield Summer Camp scholarship. That scholarship will fund two young Mid Canterbury netballers to attend the Christchurch Netball Centre’s Summer Camp, which now takes place in January every second year.

The Summerfield family’s involvement in netball locally stretches back many decades. Mum Marie played for Celtic herself for years, before becoming her girls’ number one supporter on the sidelines.

Rachel and her three sisters all played netball from a young age, with most of their playing days spent wearing the green dress of Celtic, although Rachel did also have a stint playing for Rakaia. Celtic Auric Electrical A’s current coach is Angela Leadley, the oldest of the four Summerfield siblings, while Debbie Summerfield coached the Celtic Darryl Phillips Motor Company B team last year, and youngest sibling Lynda plays social netball for Celtic.

Putting Rachel’s name to the MVP Trophy seemed somewhat fitting, as for many years she was a stand-out performer in Mid Canterbury Netball’s premier competition.

Rachel’s dad, Donald, said Rachel was always an incredibly active person and netball was her passion.

“It’s nice for us as a family to know that her name will live on in netball circles for years to come as it was always such a special part of her life,” Donald said.

Each week this season, ACL premier 1 coaches will nominate a player from the opposition team to receive 2 points in recognition of outstanding and fair play against them during that game. Points will accumulate during the season and the semi-finals night will be the last opportunity to earn MVP points. The person at the top of the points table at that point will be awarded the new trophy on finals night.

While the Rachel Summerfield Memorial MVP Award is new this year, Mid Canterbury Netball completed a trial of the MVP system in the ACL premier 1 championship round in 2022, with United KFC A’s Sammy Holden coming out on top.

At the end of last season the Rakaia Netball Club also introduced a new trophy - the Rakaia vs Celtic Challenge Trophy. Rakaia had the taonga especially made to honour Rachel, who many of the current Rakaia senior players played with, or against, over the years.

That trophy went on the line for the first time when Rakaia ProShear and Celtic Darryl Phillips Motor Company B played off for third spot in ACL Premier 2 on finals night in 2022, and it was won by Rakaia, who won that match 30-22.

Article added: Tuesday 11 April 2023