Emily was nominated the volunteer award in recognition of her above and beyond commitment to the netball community within Wyndham and the Hoppers Crossing Netball Association.
Having joined the Hoppers Crossing Netball Association as a young 11/U netball player in 2007, Emily has spent the last decade progressing up the netball ranks, going from player, to coach, to now committee member.
“It was honestly such a surprise but even more an honour,” Emily said.
“It was mentioned that my committee wanted to nominate me, but you never actually think about winning it. People believe I’m a coach and player but when I tell them I’m on the committee, I think they see me as the baby and think no way, she’s way too young.
“To think these people that I see every week wanted to get me recognised was really nice and gives me assurance that what I am doing is making an impact.”
In addition to her playing and coaching, Emily stepped up to be a committee member at the beginning of 2018 and has added significant value to the club since.
“In the years leading up to my official committee status, I’d been helping out with the NetSetGO program we have.
“They then asked me to coach and my time ended up being mostly spent at the courts so from there they asked me to help out and I thought why not give it a crack!”
Emily’s role may just be a general committee member, but she sees it as an opportunity to boost the netball community presence off the court.
“I also do the fundraising aspect of everything, so trying to get more money to fund everything we do but in ways that our club community hasn’t seen before.
“We had a cookie dough fundraising drive that worked really well, because who doesn’t love cookie dough? I really want to get a trivia night up and running that we could make a regular get-together,
“Honestly I just want to get more of a family atmosphere. We see lots of families down here for the young kids, but when you get to 17/U’s and 21/U’s it’s just one parent coming along, usually to score.”
One of Emily’s biggest supporters is her self-proclaimed “volunteer advocate” Grandma who she watched giving back to her own community when growing up.
Completing a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science at Deakin University, Emily says her netball experience is one of driving forces behind her career ambitions.
“Always in my mind I’ve known I love sport, I mean I sat up and watched the 2016 Olympics day and night despite my teacher’s dissatisfaction,” Emily jokes.
“There’s so much knowledge I’ve learnt from netball and sport and I want to build on it. Thankfully for me the committee and coaching experience contributes to it so much.
“It’s such a great experience to get involved with and just see the under workings of how we build this association and how we can continue to grow.”
Only in her second year on the committee board, Emily says she isn’t slowing down anytime soon. She hopes her achievement of receiving the Wyndham City Council Young Achiever of the Year Award can encourage netball enthusiasts who might see their age as limiting to break through the barriers.
“I’ve definitely gone from not really interacting with many people at Hoppers to now having good chats with everyone, knowing faces straight away and being up for laugh here and there.
“Community engagement and genuine people skills are what I’ve learnt from this role. You want to make everyone feel really involved and I now know sometimes you have to do what is best, not necessarily what everyone wants.
“I really hope by people seeing how young I am and my achievement with this award, that maybe it encourages them to get involved and shows them it’s possible to do.”
