PROFESSIONAL MENTOR

It’s important for me to be able to contribute to the netball community in ways beyond those on the court. Mentoring up-and-coming players is something I’m really passionate about. I co-founded a business – NETFIT TOURS – that I manage on the side of my professional playing career. My business partner is Sarah Wall, who netball people may know from her years playing for the Melbourne Phoenix and Vixens, Queensland Firebirds and the NSW Swifts and GIANTS Netball. She’s an accomplished player and a great inspiration for all netballers.

We provide a year-long mentoring program for young players. There were 40 girls that entered into our program last year. They’ve just hit their fifth month. As part of the program, we take groups on trips overseas – 20 at a time. For our first one we went to Hawaii. It’s such a great experience: We train, play against other netball teams and participate in workshops with the players. It’s not a high-performance program at all; we’re not looking to create superstars. We just want to help create positive experiences and leanings for the athletes that they can use in their everyday life.

(Photo by Narelle Spangher)

It’s an application-based program. We get applicants to identify their weaknesses, their strengths, the mentors in their lives and how they’re going to give back to the sport. That’s one of the most important things. It’s about understanding that, while netball can bring so much to your life, there’s a life outside of netball.

There’s a real sense that we’re building a supportive community as well. They’re all from different parts of Australia and New Zealand, but each month everyone in the group jumps on a Skype call. It’s a really good catch-up for them. We also have this little room on Zoom. It’s like a conference video call session. And it’s always open for them to go in whenever they want a group chat. The current group is using it all the time, which is really good to see.