Phoebe's Netball Journey: Help Her Reach New Zealand Courts!

From a young age I was always involved and interested in sports, specifically netball. I was also heavily involved in my community and culture in Naarm (Melbourne). Growing up all I ever wanted to do was play netball, so when the opportunity to play netball for my mob came about I thought it was the deadliest thing to exist. I just had to try out! At 11 years old I was asked to come and try out for the Victorian Indigenous Netball Team, when I got to trials there was no young girls my age, therefore no team to put together. Nevertheless the organisers of the Vic Squad wanted to make sure my talent was still going to be showcased and they pushed for me to come to the competition in January of 2015. Which then I was put with 8-9 other young indigenous players that also didn’t get selected for a state to form a new team, called the Dingos. Our newly formed team ended up making the grand finale but unfortunately lost becoming the Under 12s Runners Up. While playing with the Dingos we also trialed for the Budgies National Teams, which I then got selected into the Under 12s Indigenous Netball Team (Budgies) to play in the Under 12s School Sport Australia (SSA) National Championships in Perth (left picture).

After playing in Perth in August 2015 I was so keen to come back to the Budgies Competition and bring my mob from down home. My mum, Karen Albon and Aunty Dottie all put their hands up to help get us mob back up there. We took one team up to represent Victoria. This continued into the new branding of Victorian Seven Sisters, we would hold trials back in Narrm. As I got older I would attend my own trials and umpire any other trials that I wasn’t participating in, I loved helping before and after my own netball trials, it was my way to stay around the netball court and stay connected to the mob coming through our pathway. Most Budgies carnivals, I would always play and help umpire wherever they needed me. In my last year (2021) playing for Victorian Seven Sisters I Co-Captained the state squad, this entailed me to make sure all the young ones were right and if they needed anything they could come to me if they didn’t feel comfortable talking to the adults. This helped my confidence grow while I liaised between the youth and the organisers. This leaded me into coming back the following year to coach as I enjoy hanging out and engaging with the youth.

Coaching in January 2023 (right picture) for the first time at a state level was so exciting yet scary, I throughly enjoyed it and made some long time connections with the young girls and their families. This encouraged me to come back in 2024 to coach, however due to personal reason our original organiser was not able to make it to the Gold Coast for the tournament therefore I had to step up and take responsibility of the State Squad by myself at the age of 20. This was an amazing experience, yet as anyone my age would be I was quite overwhelmed at the time but looking back I realised it was a big learning experience and being around the youth made me so happy and I realised I wanted to pursue something further. Furthermore Budgies Australian Netball Indigenous Corporation have placed me on their board as their Victorian spokesperson and it would greatly benefit me to go to New Zealand as an offical and shadow others that have been doing this work for a long time.

I have done all of this with my family support and funding myself. I will continue to be an asset with First Nations netball pathways and development. I has been asked to accompany young First Nations players travel to New Zealand from 25 September to 4 October 2024. They will be competing at the International Netball Festival. The team will compete against teams from other countries. I would benefit from financial assistance to help fund my attendance and to be a valued member of the official’s team.