Randwick Netball Association celebrates 50th anniversary
Randwick Netball Association has celebrated its 50th anniversary with a star-studded line-up of past and present players turning up to mark the occasion.
Southern Courier
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With a rich and proud history steeped in tradition and success, Randwick Netball Association celebrated its 50th anniversary at The Juniors Kingsford on Friday night.
With a star roster of Australian players past and present, the attendees included Australian netball pioneer Marcia Ella-Duncan OAM, Channel 9’s head of netball and former Diamond Keeley Devery OAM and current Diamonds player Gabi Simpson.
Local MPs Maroubra state Labor MP Michael Daley, Kingsford Smith federal Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite and Coogee state Labor MP Marjorie O’Neill attended as did RNA executive committee members including patron Claire Hicks and president Marie Kelly and Junior Australian Talent Squad standout Brooke Patterson
All spoke of the sisterhood and the lifelong friendships they had formed at Randwick and how netball had empowered them as women.
Simpson, a Randwick Junior who went to St Catherine’s Waverley and is now the captain of the Queensland Firebirds, credited her early playing days for Randwick at Heffron courts for learning to thrive under pressure:
“I love the pressure the bigger the game the more I want to play,” Simpson said on stage during an animated Q&A with Devery and Ella-Duncan.
“The bigger the moment the more I want to be involved. That’s something you learn as you play — we are in such a privileged position to play for your country, to play for your state.
You take those moments. You step up. You look to your teammate — and you do it together … and that’s something I learned early on in my junior playing days at Randwick.”
In fine form, and clearly enjoying catching up with her old teammates, Ella-Duncan joked that her secret to handling pressure was “Johnny Walker Red” to loud applause and laughter from the room.
“It was fiercely competitive — I’m from a family of 12,” the 69-Test veteran said.
“So first [there are] four sisters, four brothers then me and three more brothers,” she said of her famous sporting siblings including Wallaby greats Glen, Gary and Mark Ella.
“Most of my sisters had gotten married, so most of my childhood was spent growing up with seven brothers and everything was competitive — getting a meal was competitive. Nothing was taken for granted and everything was celebrated,” Ella-Duncan said.
“I can’t really express how competitive it was — we’d have punch ups before dinner. But whenever any one of us succeeded — or a team had a great result — the whole family was behind you. I remember the first time I was selected in a state team — I came home and my brothers had already organised a congratulations cake and champagne. But we still wanted to beat each other up.”
Ella-Duncan, a descendant from the Yuin nation who opened the celebrations with a traditional Welcome to Country, said being the first indigenous athlete to receive a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra was “momentous” at the time.
“Not because of my race, although that became important later on, at the time it was more about leaving home,” she said.
“My mum was really unwell … it was a heartbreaking decision. But I was fortunate at the institute to be surrounded by the most amazing people. The teammates I had at the time — Keeley was one of those — we were good mates. And we became more like sisters.”
For her part, Devery, who was a junior at Blacktown, meeting Ella-Duncan at the AIS was a turning point.
“To be honest that’s why I came to Randwick. We clicked and I knew if the rest of the team at Randwick was like Marcia than that’s where I wanted to play,” Devery said.
IN OTHER SPORTS NEWS
And the future is certainly bright with a big announcement made on the night that Randwick has just been accepted to join Netball NSW’s Premier League Competition, and will have their own team “UTS Randwick” from 2020.
“This news is so exciting,” said Danielle Bower, who has been contracted since 2016.
“For all of the young girls who look up to the women in this room who have achieved so greatly, seeing a clear pathway through is just incredible”.
Blowing the candles out on the 50th birthday cake with club patron Claire Hicks (a life member who has been part of Randwick for 45 years) was Year 12 student, Brooke Patterson, who plays in the under-23s division and is a member of the under-17 junior talent squad for UTS and Randwick.
“It really is a breeding ground for talent. It’s an honour to be in this room with many incredible women who have gone before me,” Patterson said.