How did you get involved in netball?
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It all started when my daughter was eight years old and she decided that she'd like to play netball. I played netball prior to that with mothers' club and things like that, but I hadn't really played club, I played hockey.
So they needed an umpire and I went 'I guess I can do that, they're only eight-year-olds'. I started doing that and then I started my own club, Generation, in 1995.
We're 25 years old this year, so I've been doing it for 25 years, and basically it got me stuck into the umpiring and I got accreditation and accreditation in coaching and the story goes on from there.
How did you build up Generation?
We started from the ground with one team and thought 'we're just going to do this for a bit of fun'.
The reason we got Generation was because it was myself, my cousin, her two daughters and my niece so it was a whole different generation and then we got a few friends and then the next year they went 'do you think we could play again?'
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So we did one team the following year and then after that we ended up incorporating juniors into the club and then within 10 years we had 20-odd teams.
My husband's involved as well so he also does umpiring and coaching, my daughter's a coach and an umpire and a player, so it's pretty much across the board for the family.
What keeps you coming back?
I do a lot more with juniors than seniors - I do coach a senior team but they coach themselves pretty much, you're just there for a bit of leadership on the side of the court.
With juniors it's about knowing where your kids are, keeping them involved in sport and from a parent's perspective they've got something, they're not wandering the streets.
It's about keeping young ones involved and it's also getting them involved in sport where you do have to volunteer for stuff - there's not always money available for those sorts of things.
Our volunteer aspect across all sports dies after a while when young ones get jobs, so it's really trying to encourage them to keep involved in the sport and to keep the sport going you've got to have volunteers.
It's about really encouraging them to stay involved in the sport for a long period of time.
I just look at some of these Cavs girls, I've known them since eight years old and they've come through my club, some through other clubs and they volunteer a lot of their time too - they volunteer to coach clinics and go along and do things in schools which is really good.
That's a culture that Cavaliers - and Hawks - like to promote.
I just think volunteering is hard - it's hard to keep people involved, so I think the more we can do that from our generation to encourage these young ones, volunteering will keep going forever - it's not all about being paid to do things.
Favourite player?
You know what, I do have a little bit of a soft spot for [Northern Hawks goal shooter] Ash Mawer. With Ash she doesn't like the limelight, she just does her job, turns around, shoots, walks away - she never shows any emotion on her.
I remember Ash being in one of my state teams I managed when we went away and she pretty much lived in my room and helped me prep meals and everything, so I think we've had a good relationship there and it's carried on.
It doesn't matter where she sees me, whether it's at netball or whether it's just out on the street, she'll always give me a hug and say hello. And she's a great umpire and I love umpiring. It gets to finals for NTNA and I only have to ring her and she says 'yeah I'll do that'.
In our Cavs realm, a player that's come back this year who has a great team spirit is Estelle Margetts.
She's originally from Burnie, she's studied on the mainland, came back to Launny this year and works at the hospital as an OT.
She's just a lovely person, she's been in a lovely family and she's got such a great spirit for the team - she's a real team player and I love team players. Estelle's probably one that I'm glad to see back on the court.
Sporting dream for 2020?
It'd be getting an indoor facility for Northern Tasmanian netball.
We have the Silverdome, but being involved within NTNA for the last 25 years - I've been president, treasurer, secretary, I've done umpire convenor - what we really desperately need is our own indoor centre.
Hobart have theirs, we have the Silverdome but it's not always accessible for us to use - we use it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights, but if we had our own we'd be able to have netball every day of the week.
Of course we know it has to be a multi-purpose one, but I'm sure if the netball and basketball associations get together and say 'what can we do together?' ... I've always said I'm probably going to be in my Zimmer frame before we can see an indoor centre in the North, but let's hope that won't happen.
I guess the other one is that we see a Cavs-Hawks grand final in the State League and we'll be able to stay in Launceston and not have to travel to Hobart.
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