The Silver Ferns have a strong record at the Commonwealth Games, winning two gold, three silver and one bronze medal since netball debuted at the Games in 1998.
That history and the importance of the Commonwealth Games in the lead up to the Netball World Cup cannot be underestimated, says Netball NZ Head of High Performance and previously long time HPSNZ staffer, Stephen Hotter.
“You can’t underestimate the importance of the Commonwealth Games to netball,” says Stephen. “They test the Silver Ferns against the very best in the world and a win at the Games is an important build up and confidence builder going into the World Cup.”
While the Games replicate the World Cup in most respects, there are significant differences according to Birmingham 2022 Silver Fern and current HPSNZ Performance Team Leader, Sulu Fitzpatrick.
“The multisport aspect of the Commonwealth Games is quite different to a World Cup and for me was an amazing experience,” says Sulu. “The camaraderie of being part of a wider New Zealand team was very special and providing support to other sports and athletes was so different to a World Cup which is all about netball for 10 days.”
Sulu notes something unique about netball as a sport at the Commonwealth Games. “All the best netball nations are members of the Commonwealth which provides the perfect preparation for a World Cup.”
The Silver Ferns campaign for Glasgow received a boost last month with the announcement of an additional five internationals against Scotland and England in November. “These add to the scheduled internationals against South Africa in September and Australia in October, giving us a total of 12 internationals over three months,” says Stephen.
“The Scotland internationals will be played in Glasgow which provides us with an excellent opportunity to scope out the city, the venue and other facilities.”
Following the internationals, players will take some leave before heading back to their ANZ Premiership franchises with final preparations taking place at training camps in July just before the team heads to Glasgow 2026.
When questioned about challenges for the campaign, both Stephen and Sulu identified the increasing number of very good international teams, a number of whom the Silver Ferns don’t get to play against outside Commonwealth Games and World Cups.
“Traditionally the focus has been on the big five – Australia, England, South Africa, Jamaica and New Zealand,” they said. “Now there is a second tier of increasingly strong teams such as Malawi, Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago and a number of Oceania countries – Fiji and Tonga.”
“One of the advantages of competing at the Commonwealth Games is we get exposure to a number of those teams ahead of the Netball World Cup. That is so important because their playing style is very different to ours and that exposure allows us to prepare for the differences,” says Stephen.
New Zealand’s proud netball record at the Commonwealth Games will drive the Silver Ferns as they plot, plan and prepare for Glasgow 2026.
