National Netball Championships: How ‘supportive’ Ross Lyon has helped shape rising star daughter Annecy
She’s spent her life as the daughter of an AFL coach but now this emerging Victorian netball talent is poised to step into the spotlight herself at this week’s National Netball Championships.
Netball Live Stream
Don't miss out on the headlines from Netball Live Stream. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Annecy Lyon is ready to forge her own name in the elite world of sport.
The daughter of ex-footballer and current St Kilda AFL coach Ross Lyon, Annecy is poised to step into the spotlight at this week’s National Netball Championships.
Chasing gold with Victoria’s 19/U squad, the maturing goal shooter-goal attack’s childhood growing up in a “fiercely competitive household” has always appeared aligned with pursuing a sport.
And having dad Ross, alongside mum Kirsten, there for support has been a key ingredient to Annecy’s rise, the 18-year-old revealing her dad’s background gave her incredible insight into the standards which make an elite player.
WATCH THE NATIONAL NETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS LIVE
“He’s very supportive in the way he approaches my netball, he wants me to have fun and enjoy it and not put ions amount of pressure on it, but he kind of guides me in terms of what I need to be doing to reach the best performance in myself,” Annecy said.
Annecy said her father drew a lot of parallel between football and netball, particularly defensively, while he reinforced the level of fitness and conditioning his daughter needed to perform on court.
“He’ll guide me in that sense but also watch and be that supportive figure when he needs to too,” she said.
For Annecy, life as an AFL coach’s daughter has long been her normal, even for all its abnormalities, though the realities of the industry meant Annency’s own netball trajectory has been far from linear.
From gracing the MCG in 2009 on grand final day as a two-year-old, as her dad chased premiership success with the Saints, to soon calling Western Australia home as Ross took up a new posting as Fremantle’s coach from 2012, it was there Annecy first picked up a netball.
But after making WA’s 2019 12-and-under representative team, it was that same year dad Ross was sacked as Fremantle coach, the family soon packing up and returning to Melbourne.
“I was pretty devastated when we had to relocate and I kind of quit (netball) temporarily,” Annecy said.
“(But) I missed that part where I could channel that competitiveness and I think subconsciously I was struggling without netball as that outlet.”
Melbourne’s Covid-19 lockdowns proved another barrier, though Annecy eventually picked up netball again, forced to navigate the pathways from scratch, from association netball into regional and state championship appearances, before finally getting talent identified.
Joining Netball Victoria’s Elevate Program was a turning point.
“That really got me back on track to where I needed to be, in the elite pathway, because before that it was kind of hard for me to navigate the differences in the pathways between WA and Victoria,” she said.
“It definitely took a couple years to get back to that spot where I felt supported.
“Once I got back into it I kind of felt a lot better within myself.”
It’s during those times Annecy credited her parents most for picking her up and supporting her through several missed selections or bad losses.
“They taught me how to be a resilient athlete,” she said.
Set to form a dynamic attacking end with fellow Victorians Mia Lavis, Sahara Ball and Holly Adams-Alcock in Sydney this week, Annecy said her mindset was always to outsmart, rather than outrun, her opponents.
Coming from a coaches’ daughter, it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Originally published as National Netball Championships: How ‘supportive’ Ross Lyon has helped shape rising star daughter Annecy
Watch now: National Netball Championships, Day 4
Two undefeated powerhouses will meet on day four of the National Netball Championships, while another will be hoping to keep its unblemished record intact. Watch all 16 matches LIVE.
Watch replays: National Netball Championships, Day 3
Three undefeated sides continued their dominating runs at the National Netball Championships on Saturday with one withstanding an almighty challenge. Watch the REPLAYS here.