Like so many netball stories, Nepean Netball Association’s (NNA) history is one built on the efforts of its life members during an era where women’s sport struggled for funding and support. But NNA’s most recent story of how it rebuilt after the COVID pandemic is one that makes its leaders especially proud to be celebrating the organisation’s 40th anniversary.
“We are a very grassroots organisation. We were built from the community, by the community to play netball,” NNA President Jess Cooper said.
Appointed to her role in the aftermath of the pandemic, Jess and the committee faced the monumental task of fostering a rebuild.
“I came in as president and with a whole new committee at the end of 2021, to get kids back on court post-COVID,” Jess said.
“We could see the impact that no sport had on young people, and we also had brand new courts that were funded by the state government and the shire that had never been played on, because they got completed at the start of 2020.”
The association had its back against the wall and reached out to Netball Victoria for help to return to their former glory.
“We realised that we really had to build our participation back up again and build people's belief in the association and connection to it. And by the end of the year, we realised we needed help to do that, so we reached out to Netball Victoria,” Jess said.
Netball Victoria offered NNA support to attract, retain and develop their players, volunteers, umpires and coaches, which has seen the association revolutionise itself.
“Netball Victoria basically supported us in every way that they could,” Jess said.
One key factor in steering NNA onto the right course was the direction Netball Victoria provided in creating a strategic plan – a tool to guide the organisation, identify its values and truly service the local community.
“We were going through this strategic planning process with Netball Victoria – we didn't have a strategic plan at that point,” Jess said.
“So we surveyed our community, asking, ‘what do you like most? What do you not like?’ … And from that, we realised how much the community values a local organisation. We realised what our strengths were.”
“Netball Victoria kept encouraging us to work to our strengths, to work to what makes us unique and not look at other competitions.”
From there, with a new strategic plan in hand, the association blossomed. Previously struggling for numbers to build their junior rep sides, NNA now has 652 members, with over one hundred players registered to the Under 13s age group alone.
“Netball Victoria has offered strategic, moral, emotional, technical support all around to help us get some perspective and grow our association to the point that we were able to celebrate our 40th anniversary.”
It’s a milestone that Jess and the association couldn’t be prouder to reach.
“This three-year journey of trying to take something that was really about to deflate and raise some life back into it, to make people proud of it, has been incredible,” Jess said.
Her advice to other associations that may be facing similar challenges:
“Keep the players and the game at the centre of your decision making. For us we keep it pretty simple; it's all about kids on court. Our tagline of Community, Connect, Compete has been really important. So just do the work to identify what your values are and what you stand for.”
Find out more about how Netball Victoria can assist your club or association.
