Netball can transcend generations and bring families together, and that was exactly the case for Nickola, Donna and Sarah who play for Royal Park in the Maryborough Castlemaine District League.
Having played netball for years, they each passed their love of the game on to their daughters with the dream of one day stepping out on court together. And one Saturday in June that dream came true.
“I get slightly emotional about it. Having the privilege and the honour of playing with a family member, let alone your own daughter, is quite special. The other two ladies were the same, I think we cried for about 15 minutes before the game,” Sarah said.
There were plenty of mixed emotions when Sarah hit the court with her daughter. At first it was joy before the funny side of it kicked in when her daughter Lacy bellowed “mum”.
“Hilarious, because you don’t get called mum on the court! So to have someone yelling ‘mum, mum’ you’re looking around going ‘who’s calling?’ and then realising it’s you, so that was really different.
“Lacy and I played in the goals and Nickola and Matilda were in the midcourt and Donna and Kayley were in the midcourt as well. To have three lots of mums on the court caused some confusion, but it was lovely. Lacy and I were in close proximity of each other in the goals and it was really lovely and when she shot her first goal - it was like ‘alright, we’re on, let’s go’,” she said.
As head coach of the team, it’s fair to say that Sarah had some say over who took to the court, but for the small country club it was about more than netball - it was about family and a sense of community.
“We live in a small regional community and we’ve had some young mothers in our town recently diagnosed with breast cancer or pancreatic cancer that might not have the opportunity to do what we did around that week, which made it more special.”
With midweek and weekend competitions there’s no shortage of netball options across the town to partake in, but the connection Nickola, Donna and Sarah had formed with Royal Park was unbreakable.
Involved in more aspects than just playing, the trio also helped create a junior competition to give their daughters and fellow youngsters the opportunity to play netball.
“We started an under 11s netball competition for our league and our girls were the driving force behind that, because we wanted them to have the ability to play at district league level so we weren’t in three different places every Saturday. Our club is very supportive and a real family club. You don’t get that with every small district league club.
“Nickola and Donna coach three teams, sometimes four teams on a Saturday and I’m the junior netball co-ordinator. We’re all committee members and we’re all very heavily involved in our club,” Sarah said.
Netball has long been engrained in Sarah’s life, playing at Royal Park for close to 20 years. Although her journey didn’t start there, Royal Park has now become not only her home but so too her family’s.
“I grew up playing netball on a Saturday in my family. I can’t imagine not playing netball.
“I have two sons that play at the same club and Donna and Nickola have sons. But the club holds us together as a family unit - you’re not separating the mum or the dad or the caregivers for those kids to go off one way or another, we’re a real family unit. I think that really is our driving force behind it all.”
Labelling herself and her fellow comrades as the “old girls” or the “spare parts” of the team, Sarah wanted to thank Donna and Nickola for the time, effort and dedication they put into the club.
“Donna and Nickola, I can’t thank them enough, they get there at 7.30 in the morning and are there until God knows what time in the afternoon all for the love of netball. So it’s also about recognising them for their contribution,” she said.
