Christine Oguche: Lavington goal shooter named in Victorian 19-and-under squad

Panthers coaches have been blown away by the rapid development of the 196cm goal-shooter who, incredibly, had never played club netball until this year.

Oguche is now on the books of Victorian Netball League side City West Falcons and is one of 25 players now vying for a place in the Victoria 19-and-under team..

This year the teenager played predominantly for Lavington's B-grade, whose outgoing coach Millie Fawcett expects Oguche's meteoric rise in the sport to continue.

"If she sticks at it, she will play Suncorp Super Netball and be an Australian Diamond one day," Fawcett said.

"Linda (Charlton, the Panthers A-grade coach) and I said from the start her name will be remembered on the team lists.

"She's only 17, so she hasn't finished growing yet!

"She was even getting new shoes throughout the season because her feet were growing.

"It's insane.

"Her potential after just this one year, being a rookie, is phenomenal.

"She got A-grade court time and even the defenders that were getting the MVP in the Ovens and Murray streaming were singing her praises because they couldn't do too much to stop her.

"She'll be a force to be reckoned with, absolutely."

Charlton was thrilled to see Oguche make it through the latest round of state selection.

"It's a huge achievement," Charlton said.

"It's so hard to get into these squads because it's so competitive.

"The quality of athletes that compete for these spots are people that have trained their whole life so it's incredibly difficult to get in.

"We could not be prouder of Christine.

"We absolutely love her, we think she's amazing and we think the sky's the limit for her.

"She walked into our U17 trials this time last year and we nearly fell off our chairs.

"She'd hardly played any netball before so to go, in a year's time, from there to where she is now...

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"She's represented the Ovens and Murray, she won the B-grade premiership, she won the best and fairest, she got best on court in the B-grade premiership, you just don't see this very often.

"It really is extraordinary.

"The level of coaching a lot of those players in the city would get is huge but Christine is just an amazing natural talent."

Fawcett is confident Oguche has all the tools required to make it at the top level.

"She's naturally quite athletic and she does have that height which is salivating for netballers and coaches but more so just that desire to learn," Fawcett said.

"First round, every time she caught the ball, she stepped, those little things that make a big difference.

"But she absolutely hit her straps and she became unstoppable, defenders just couldn't do much.

"I'm a shooter and Linda's a shooter, so Christine had a good crop of people around her to show her the way in terms of body positioning and shooting technique.

"It was nice to work one-on-one with her and be a really small part in what I think will be a really big journey for her.

"It's something I'll probably always remember, that I was her first netball coach."

Oguche's temperament has impressed Charlton as much as anything.

"Christine is very quiet and shy but she is also really calm and determined," she said.

"She's just got that shooter mentality, when she's court, that she doesn't get ruffled at all, she just keeps putting up the shots.

"That shows real character and resilience, she doesn't just have the physical attributes.

"Next year she'll be playing VNL for City West Falcons and hopefully she'll be selected in the state team and that'll be 12 weeks in Melbourne.

"We'll take whatever we can get when it comes to Christine!

"I don't know if she'll be playing for us next year, we really hope so, but she can definitely go further.

"We believe she's got everything you need to get to that next level and we think she's be a great asset to any team.

"She's the same height as Jhaniele Fowler, the amazing Jamaican and West Coast Fever goal-shooter, she's athletic as well and she picks things up so quickly.

"That probably even surprised us within the club."

VICTORIA 19/U SQUAD: Keeley Burgmann (Hawks Netball), Shae Clifford (Bendigo Football Netball League), Saachi Donald (Boroondara Express), Kiahna Fallon (Geelong Cougars), Lily Graham (Wilson Storage Southern Saints), Isabelle Grapsas (Geelong Cougars), Sienna Green (Hawks Netball), Teal Hocking (City West Falcons), Millie Hogg (Wilson Storage Southern Saints), Dee Dee Lambert (Hawks Netball), Grace Markovic (Melbourne University Lightning), Mikaela Minns (City West Falcons), Charlotte Morey (Geelong Cougars), Charli Nicol (City West Falcons), Christine Oguche (City West Falcons), Ella Roberton (Peninsula Waves), Charlotte Sexton (Bendigo Football Netball League), Ruby Shannon (North East Blaze), Georgia Shattock (Boroondara Express), Jessica Tetley (Peninsula Waves), Alannah Trevisan (Ballarat Football Netball League), Mia Van Wyk (Wilson Storage Southern Saints), Tara Watson (North East Blaze), Olivia Wilkinson (Peninsula Waves), Achel Yout (City West Falcons).

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