This week – as a part of National Volunteer Week – we are celebrating the hard work and dedication of just a few of all the fantastic volunteers within our Victorian netball community, who give up their time simply to help make our sport great.
Belinda Hayden – the Manager of Gina’s Dream Team – is just one of these. And upon reading her story below, it is no wonder that Belinda was a finalist in the 2019 Netball Victoria Community Awards for the Volunteer of the Year Award, presented by Origin.
Gina’s Dream Team is named in honour and memory of Belinda’s daughter, Gina Kickett. A talented and well-known netballer in the Ballarat area, Gina died suddenly in 2008 – aged just 27 – of an undiagnosed blood clot.
Following the passing of her daughter, Belinda understandably needed a break from netball for a couple of months, but when she did return, she gathered her courage to create a team for those who needed additional support and motivation to hit the court; a team we now know as Gina’s Dream Team.
Belinda puts her love for sport and the positive impact it can have on the community – both adults and juniors alike - before anything else. She is a talented netballer in her own right, and well entrenched within the Ballarat netball community, but also helps out with basketball and with other activities at her grandson’s school whenever she can.
The idea behind Gina’s Dream Team was to give back to the more vulnerable members of the community to motivate them to return to community sport, particularly indigenous kids who wanted to take their netball a little bit further, but weren’t exactly sure how. Belinda also plays on the team, and being aged in her 50s is generally one of the older players to hit the court on game day, however, she uses her knowledge of the game to teach by doing.
Gina’s Dream Team has continued to go from strength to strength, so much so that they are now represented by teams in multiple divisions – both men and women of all ages - in tournaments across the state each year. In fact, at the 2019 VACSAL (Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association Ltd.) Senior Football and Netball Carnival, Gina’s Dream Team made the Grand Final in three out of the four divisions contested, with the Division 4 side coming away victorious.
2020 was originally going to be Belinda’s final year on court – her dream was to be able to take the court in the same team as her 11-year-old granddaughter Alkira, before hanging up the boots for good. Who knows whether this will become a reality this year due to COVID-19 – perhaps it will lengthen Belinda’s on-court career?! – but one this we know is that Gina’s legacy is now stronger than ever, and with Belinda at the helm, Gina’s Dream Team is only going to become a greater force to be reckoned with.
