On a typical Thursday morning during the netball season, Yvonne Porter can be excused for appearing a little bleary-eyed at her GippSport desk. One of the East Gippsland Programs Coordinator's two additional jobs is with VNL club Peninsula Waves; for Wednesday games and Sunday training, that makes for a very long commute.
The 650km round-trip takes around eight hours from home in Lakes Entrance to Parkville, while the weekend drive to Patterson Lakes is only fractionally closer. It all adds up to almost 16 hours on the road to fulfil her role as the Waves’ assistant Division One coach and member of the Championship panel.
Which, by the way, is a reality, not a complaint.
Porter, who has also been in charge of Lakes Entrance in the East Gippsland Football Netball League since moving from Melbourne in February, completed her Advanced Coach Accreditation earlier this month. Of the active 52 with that qualification, she is one of just 13 based in regional Victoria.
Praising the new Covid-prompted self-nomination system for talent academy and state under age selection level as a “game changer” for regional athletes, coaches and umpires, Porter admits that distance has typically been both a deterrent and a barrier to entry on the developmental pathway.
Thus, the 36-year-old hopes that others who hear her story may want to be what they can see.
“It would be amazing if by me travelling to Melbourne and doing what I do means that there’s somebody else, anybody else, an athlete, a coach, whoever, that just goes ‘all right well, I’m gonna throw my hat in the ring and I’m gonna do it as well’,’’ says Porter.
“Every team we come up against every single week at footy/netball, in all of them there are athletes and coaches and umpires who could be filling those roles at VNL. There are some amazing netball people in regional places.’’
The travel can be difficult, admits Drouin-raised Porter, who is sometimes so exhausted that she finds herself in a slightly zombie-like state at work. But once she arrives at her netball destination, so does the feeling that she is exactly where she wants to be.
“Having to drive four hours to get to training is tough, but it is doable, so it’s important to have open conversations with the key people in your life about where you’re at and not just going ‘no, I’m fine, I’m fine’. It’s OK to say ‘I’m tired or I’m struggling or need a session off’ and people understand. People do get it. Even if they’re in Melbourne and have never been to East Gippsland, they totally get it.’’
As to how Porter got to her own happy place in life and netball, the latter started at the age of five with teammates who would walk to the local courts to train after school, and were undeterred by an almost comical inability to score a goal until they were halfway through their second season.
Young Yvonne was short and not terribly athletic, she laughs, so played with her friends for the fun of it (needing some prodding to admit she did win a league best-and-fairest at under 15 level, and rose to A-grade), while aware that as much as she yearned to be the next Shelley O’Donnell, that was never going to happen.
Then, in her late teens, a pal who wanted to start coaching at their local club, Longwarry, asked Porter to come along, and a new love affair began. The midcourter also continued playing until a handful of years ago, when it became too difficult to combine both.
“Coaching, it sounds corny, but it’s a privilege to be able to do it, so I chose coaching,’’ she says. “I don’t have any kids, and I just figure that coaching is a way to leave the world in a better place.
“Sometimes we take for granted that we grow up with netball or in sport so we just kind of know what it gives us, but not everyone has that, so be able to give that opportunity to someone to be involved in something that’s not just about them, or an escape from whatever’s happening in life, I think it’s pretty amazing to be able to do that.’’
She has contributed in multiple ways. When the rep program was threatened by the lack of a coaching co-ordinator, an outraged 18-year-old Porter put her hand up and joined the West Gippsland Football Netball League’s executive. She stayed in the role for 11 years. Then was vice-president for three.
The next fork in the pathway led to the Eastern Zone talent academy program and eventually onwards to VNL - something she had heard of, but knew little about. That changed after graduating from the Waves' scholarship program. Then came a five-year stint at the Boroondara Express, working under head 19&U coach Eliza Allen and with a talented 2018-flag-winning squad that included current Vixens temporary replacement player Hannah Mundy.
Last year, COVID-19 gave her cause for reflection on work/life balance, and in 2021 the opportunity to complete the circle by returning to the Waves as Division One assistant under Kelly Haynes, as well as part of the Championship coaching panel, proved irresistible.
So it remains, even after that early-year shift from inner-city Melbourne to Lakes Entrance and the geographical challenges that entails.
“The netballers have basically just adopted me into their lives, so I’m very very thankful that I still get that social aspect of life, because things are very busy when Footy Netball and VNL overlap,’’ says Porter, who commits three nights and each weekend to netball.
Joking about how she will fill in all those spare hours once both seasons finish, the keen new East Gippsland resident is planning to run an open house for friends and family to visit.
Which will make a nice change. Others coming to Porter rather than Porter going to them. Suffice to say that she will have earned the rest.
Written by Linda Pearce
