The love helping Super Netball star rebound after losing home, medals in arson attack

Latanya Wilson lost everything but her life in an arson attack on her family home in Jamaica last year but the support of the netball community has helped her return to Australia in an amazing way.

When Latanya Wilson returns home from her all-conquering efforts for the Adelaide Thunderbirds, she’s likely to find a handwritten note on her bedroom door congratulating her on her latest performance.

“Home” though, is temporary, a makeshift haven in Adelaide where she lives with her T-Birds “house mother” Heidi Sanderson, 16,000km away from family in Jamaica who have gone through hell and back in the past nine months.

Wilson’s family home in the Jamaican capital was destroyed in an arson attack last August as gang violence erupted in downtown Kingston.

Wilson, who had just returned from South Africa, where she helped the Sunshine Girls to a bronze medal at the World Cup, and her family escaped with their lives but little else following the attack in the early hours of the morning.

As news broke - Thunderbirds players and officials learnt of the attack after Wilson posted a message in their team WhatsApp chat - Wilson’s netball family wrapped its arms around her from half a world away.

The star defender had a vague awareness her status as one of the world’s best netball players made her a beloved figure in Jamaica.

But as news of the fire spread there was an outpouring of support from around the globe.

Sunshine Girl Latanya Wilson is one of several victims whose house was destroyed following an early morning blaze on Thursday.

(Video: Llewellyn Wynter)https://t.co/VjfW95CLzCpic.twitter.com/yb3G4Ki8tS

— Jamaica Observer (@JamaicaObserver) August 24, 2023

“It was very tough but I had the support of both my Adelaide family here, fans and other teams have reached out to me and just the love, both in Jamaica and around the world, made it a little bit better,” Wilson said.

“We’re still trying to get back up on our feet, it’s a bit up and down in the sense that we’re trying to navigate our way back around to see what all of that looks like … because we recently moved, so it’s more just trying to get that pattern (of normal life) back.”

Wilson’s family - she shared the home in Kingston with her mother and several sisters - has moved to St Catherine parish, just west of Kingston, where the Jamaican government, National Housing Trust and West Undies Home Contractors provided a new home on a lease-to-buy agreement, something that will be manageable for the family after netball supporters around the world flooded GoFundMe pages.

“It was very good to know that despite the tragedy that I still had support, and the love shown to me across the world was so nice,” Wilson said.

“I knew I was loved by the netball community and by a lot of people out there but to actually see that in person was just so good.

Latanya Wilson (left) felt the love from across the world. Picture: Getty Images

“And it made a journey a little bit easier, I must say.”

Wilson is no stranger to adversity.

One of nine children, she knows of loss after the death of her older brother Trevonn just weeks before she realised her dream of signing a Super Netball contract.

So the loss of mere possessions - even if it did include her Commonwealth Games and World Cup medals as well as a Super Netball premiership medallion - meant little as long as her clan got out of the house safely before it and two others were engulfed by flames in the firebombing attack.

“I have several different emotions. I am sad but I am more so grateful that I still have life,” she said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer straight after the fire.

The bitter pay dispute that was playing out in Australia had an ironic upside for Wilson, even if she was among the players left unpaid for almost three months before it was resolved, giving her more time at home with her family in an extended off-season.

The Thunderbirds have two wins from their first three games of the season. Picture: Getty Images

“That’s true. But you know what, sometimes you just have to control the controlables and that was outside of my control, so dwelling on that (pay dispute) with my recent tragedy would have been totally a mess for me,” Wilson said.

“So I looked at the positive the positive side of it and I didn’t pay that too much attention.

“The fact that I was receiving so much love across the world, made it so much easier.”

Having her own family - her mum Carol Dick and her sisters live in the new house in St Catherine - so far away and in new surrounding would be distracting for anyone, let alone a shy 23-year-old like Wilson.

The Thunderbirds are part of Wilson’s family. Picture: Getty Images

But her Australian mob, including house mum and Netball South Australia staffer Sanderson, who was in touch throughout her ordeal last year, have welcomed Wilson back with open arms and are thrilled to see her safe.

“My house mother and her kids are the best,” Wilson said.

“This is like my home away from home. I literally can talk to her and the kids about anything.

“And the best part about it is when I finish a game or anything, I come home to small notes on my door or on my bed saying how much proud we are of you or how you were brilliant, so it reminded me so much of my family back home.

“And I look forward to those little messages as well.”

Certainly Wilson has not let turmoil back home interrupt her brilliant Super Netball career.

Latanya Wilson has had a fantastic start to the 2024 season. Picture: Getty Images

After a breakout season in the Thunderbirds’ run to the premiership last year, Wilson has started 2024 with a bang, claiming 16 gains, 11 intercepts and 18 deflections - while conceding just two turnovers - in the opening three rounds playing mostly at wing defence.

Along the way, she has kept some of the best players in the league quiet, including Diamonds captain Liz Watson, who she frustrated into several errors in the T-Birds upset win over the Lightning last week.

Wilson and her teammates though, are unlikely to have seen it as much of an upset.

With countrywoman Shamera Sterling-Humphrey and recently capped Diamond Matilda Garrett, Wilson forms what former Australian coach Lisa Alexander believes is the best club defensive combination in world netball and with the injection of another Sunshine Girl - experienced goaler Romelda Aiken-George, the T-Birds are no easybeats.

“That’s definitely the goal,” she said of winning another premiership despite the loss of shooters Eleanor Cardwell and Tippah Dwan.

“But we’re a new team and nothing is guaranteed. But what we are working on is our own team and constantly evolving as a team and a unit and if that’s going to get us over the line, then so be it.”

The Thunderbirds host the winless Giants at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Saturday night.

Originally published as The love helping Super Netball star rebound after losing home, medals in arson attack