[3][4] In the lead-up to the 2009 World Youth Championship in the Cook Islands, there was considerable anxiety over the facilities, and whether they would be up to standards.

Before this, the International Netball Federation also reaffirmed their support for hosting the event in the Cook Islands.

[5] The Chinese government had offered to step in and loan the country NZ$9.3 million to help pay the costs of constructing the facility.

[6] During that period, the government also sought to increase the size of the loan for the facility to NZD 13 million$ .

[6] The opposition leader Norman George was very unhappy with how the government handled the whole situation regarding new sporting facilities to be built for the World Youth Netball Championships and the 2009 Pacific Mini Games.