Teammates turned roommates: The Super Netball stars teaming up on and off the court
They band together on the court to fight the netball fight, but many of the league’s stars are teammates turned roommates and are surviving the cost of living crisis together.
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When Leesa Mi Mi signed with Sunshine Coast Lightning her biggest fear was how she was going to survive on her own for the first time, 90 minutes away from her family.
But a share house arrangement with teammates turned second family provided the perfect off-court stability to allow the 24-year-old midcourter to excel.
Mi Mi isn’t the only Lightning player opting to share living arrangements – another four live across two other homes.
Mavericks have six players living across three homes. Four Swifts players, including co-captain Maddy Turner also live together. Over in Western Australia sisters Sunday and Ruth Aryang live together and so do Kadie-Ann Dehaney and Shanice Beckford.
While the move makes sense given the cost of living crisis – especially in cities like Sydney and Melbourne- Mi Mi says for her it was more about creating an environment that worked with the lifestyle of a high performance athlete.
Mi Mi, the sister of former Firebirds player Jemma Mi Mi, had never lived out of home when she signed on with the Lightning ahead of the 2024 season.
“We literally lived five minutes away from each other. Now I’m an hour and a half away,” Mi Mi said.
“It was my first year out of home last year and it was definitely an eye opener with bills and having to buy your own food.”
In her first season at the club Mi Mi shared a home with Ash Ervin and Charlie Bell. With Bell relocating to New Zealand to play netball training partner Nat Sligar has moved in.
Mi Mi said the biggest advantage is having people to talk to.
“I think if I was isolated by myself I would struggle dearly, because I definitely need to talk to someone and rot on the couch with someone as well,” Mi Mi said.
The trio have a roster where they take it in turns to cook – so they have one week on chef duty then two weeks off.
“We all do the staples like spaghetti bolognese or maybe throw in a curry here and there and then just meat and vege. One of us will do a nice dinner once a week,” Mi Mi said.
“I feel like I’m a pretty good cook, I haven’t given anyone food poisoning yet.”
When it comes to household chores there isn’t as much of a system. Mi Mi said it was more of a whoever discovers the mess has to clean it up.
But there is one exception.
“I don’t do any of the outdoors area because I’m not really into that, like cutting leaves off the tree, there are too many animals,” Mi Mi said.
“Geckos, spiders, no thank you. They are just too unpredictable.
“Once there was a spider in my room and I was in tears, I was home alone and I had to call Ash and tell her to get here as I couldn’t deal with it.”
While Mi Mi misses her family terribly she has come to enjoy living out of home.
“My family is always a call away if I needed anything they would be up there in a heartbeat,” she said,
“We always facetime each other which we love doing. I’m so appreciative of them because they are so supportive of me and I wouldn’t be where I am today in my career without them.”
Turner lives with three of her teammates.
“When people hear that they’re like – oh my gosh, that’s a lot of netball,” Turner said.
“But to be honest we’re not just netball players we are other things outside of that and I think that’s what keeps us balanced and grounded.
“It’s also handy that you’re all on the same time schedule in terms of no one is going out on a Saturday night and having crazy parties if we have a game on Sunday.
“The focus is netball but we can have our own lives separately which is really cool.”
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