Netball
Adrian Warren 7y

Sunshine Coast gripped by netball fever

Netball

The Sunshine Coast is in the grip of netball fever, as the local Lightning side have the chance to strike a sporting blow for regional Australia.

The Lightning and fellow first-season franchise the Giants Netball clash in the inaugural Super Netball grand final in Brisbane on Saturday.

Over 2000 Lightning members snapped up tickets within five minutes of them going on sale, despite the final being played in Brisbane, as their home venue wasn't large enough to accommodate a major sporting event.

Not all the familiarity of playing at home will be lost, as the Lightning's court is being transported to Brisbane.

On Wednesday, the support for the Sunshine Coast's first national sporting grand finalists was set to reach a crescendo, with their colours taking over the region.

"We've got the wear yellow to work day or wear yellow to school day today," Lightning CEO Danielle Smith told AAP on Wednesday.

"We're also encouraging people to dress up their shops in yellow, so there's a lot of people behind the team.

"There's definitely a sense of pride in having a team contest a national sporting competition, because that's never happened for the Sunshine Coast before."

Lightning are majority owned by the Melbourne Storm NRL club, with the University of Sunshine Coast as the minor partner.

The geographical distance between the Storm and Lightning hasn't prevented them from working with each other or people from supporting both clubs.

"When we (Lightning) had the major semifinal in Melbourne, we saw quite a few Storm fans in the crowd with their Storm gear on," said Smith, who is also a Storm board member.

"When Lightning have played in Melbourne we've done a few things with Storm together and the reverse when Storm has played in Brisbane."

Lightning boast the most cosmopolitan team in the competition, with players from at least four nations on their roster.

"We do have a number of players live together, we've got four that share a house," Smith said.

"That includes two Australians, a New Zealander and our South African, that all helps in bringing the team together and establishing that bond.".

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