Australian netball legend Liz Ellis believes it’s only a matter of time until another indigenous netballer is selected in the Diamonds team after her recent trip to Gove in the Northern Territory for a Telstra ‘Super Coach’ clinic.
Ellis was joined by Diamonds squad member Caitlin Thwaites at the Miwatj Sparks Netball Club, one of the country’s most remote netball clubs, after the team won Telstra’s national ‘Super Coach’ competition.
“There have been a couple before in the Diamonds team and I’ve got no doubt (there will be another),” said former Diamonds captain Ellis.
“The real priority needs to be that there are pathways for those young girls and that’s a difficult thing to do when you look at the vast amount of space in the Northern Territory and West Australia.
“As long as there’s a strong pathway for the girls who live remotely and also good support structures for the indigenous girls who live closer to the major cities, it would definitely be great to see a few more indigenous players coming through to the Diamonds.”
While there is a lack of education on the development pathways for young and aspiring players, Ellis believes that it’s the lack of confidence and self believe that creates the biggest obstacle for indigenous.
“They need to believe in themselves and understand that there’s a structure out there to help them and that there are people out there to help them,” the most Test capped Diamond said.
“Sure travelling is expensive but they’re all things that can be solved and I think the real challenge is to make these girls understand just how good they are and how much time they have and also let them see there is a pathway for them.
“For those of us on the other side we can see the pathway there and we can help them through but if the players themselves can’t see that then they’re not going to try and get there, so it the pathway has to be clear from the bottom looking up.”
Located 650kms from Darwin and 1190kms from Cairns, accessible by air on a regular basis or by road during the dry season, Ellis and Thwaites visited the Miwatj Sparks Netball Club for a private training session.
“It was a whirlwind trip but I haven’t been to Gove before so it was just beautiful and really enjoyed the trip and seeing Gove and I really enjoyed the girls that we were able to work with,” Ellis said.
“It was a nice mix of indigenous and non-indigenous players and I think all of them had some really good talent.”
The Sparks, who play in the Gove Netball Association competition in Nhulunbuy Eastern Arnhem Land, were chosen from hundreds of entries around the country, after demonstrating their passion and commitment to the sport.
“We were a bit guided by what the winning team wanted to work on and the big thing for them was their foot work,” Ellis said.
“We did some drills around making sure they steady their feet because they were all beautiful and fast; sometimes they were a little too fast so we did some specific stuff around footwork.
“Caitlin was there as well so she was able to focus on some shooting techniques while I was able to focus with the remainder of the girls on some defensive work.
“We really focused on just getting their basics right because I’m a great believer in, if your basics aren’t right with your footwork, passing and catching then there’s no point going any further so we did all that which was really worthwhile.”
Along with the having Liz drop in for a clinic, the Sparks also received a Motorola Defy Pre-Paid handset with $500 of credit from Telstraand $1000 worth of netball equipment.
Finalists of the ‘Super Coach’ competition in each state will also receive $1000 worth of netball equipment for their club.
Netball Australia
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