Pacific MMI maintains support for Pepes

Caption: (L) Julienne Leka-Maliaki receiving a netball from the MD for Pacific MMI Insurance, Wayne Dorgan

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, April 27, 2014 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

PACIFIC MMI Insurance has maintained its strong support for the national netball team with a total of K95,000 toward the Pacific MMI Pepes, as part of their 3 year support commitment worth K285,000.

The support, in its second years, is an incremental increase from last year’s support of K90,000, it follows the recent success of the teams high performance program, which has impressed both the naming rights sponsor and the netball hierarchy.

Managing Director for Pacific MMI Insurance, Wayne Dorgan said that as a responsible corporate citizen, they were pleased to support the sport which promotes healthy lifestyles giving opportunities to aspire reaching the pinnacle of their sporting careers.

He pointed out that he saw a huge change in attitude as a result of the high performance program, adding that the signs were very promising from the players.

“Attitude change has been massive- the psychology in sport is something that has let us down,” Dorgan said.

“No disrespect to past players but it is the way the game has developed and we need to keep up with that change.”

Dorgan also added that the corporatisation of sports was the way forward in terms of bringing up the levels of codes in the country through the support of companies for a win-win situation, making reference to the path taken by Cricket PNG, which has seen the national cricket teams excel at the highest levels.

PNG Netball Federation President, Julienne Leka-Maliaki, thanked Pacific MMI for their continued support in the sport over the last ten years.

Adding that the support would assist them in the programs to prepared the national team for tournaments to be held in 2014.

“We have seen a huge shift in the minds of the girls and the energy levels that have come out have been amazing,” Leka said.

“Key areas to focus on were the strength and conditioning of our players, we also needed to look at the psychological aspect and the motivational aspect of our players, which is the mental capacity of our players at a high competition level.”

“It is something that will transform the team.”

The president thanked Pacific MMI for its continued commitment to netball and urged potential sponsors to consider supporting the largest women participative sport in the country.

“We have other programs that we need support in such as our game development programs, and we believe that there are good corporate friends out there to deliver these programs not only to promote healthy lifestyles through sport, but also to have a positive impact on the social development of women in the country.”

The announcement of the support also saw the presentation of 50 netballs for the teams in its preparations and for the federation’s development programs.