By Jonty Ralphsmith
The Hampton Park Netball Club has grown from a “basket case” in 2021 to a vibrant squad of 84 players across eight teams in 2024.
The hard work of several volunteers, headed by Melinda Wilson, has been behind the growth, with Wilson joining the Redbacks in 2022, yielding quick results.
During 2022, there were 19 members across two teams, with most participants being veterans looking to rebuild the club after the club was unable to field a side in 2021.
In 2023, the club had 47 participants, including 18 juniors as the club was not only succeeding for the present, but had a constant feed of players to sustain itself into the medium term, something rarely seen in the netball club’s 22-year existence.
Most pleasingly, the success-starved netball club won two senior premierships in 2023.
“Until last year, I had only played in three finals and have been here for more than 20 years,” said veteran Donna Kellett.
“You drive that culture because you want to be part of success and you know what it’s like without having had it.
“You want the netball club to have the names of premiership players alongside the footy premiers.
“The ultimate is to win a flag and see it hanging up in the room knowing you were part of it.”
The club has taken another leap forward in 2024, with 84 participants across five senior and three junior teams, an increase of 178 per cent from 2023.
Conversations with those within the club revealed five key factors which have precipitated the growing success.
Coaching:
The arrival of under-17s coach Simon Kaye and under-15s coach Nicole Van Brakel in 2023, both with leadership experience at representative level, has been a drawcard for juniors.
As well as attracting youth, the sophisticated knowledge of the coaches allows the next generation to thrive, giving the club the best opportunity of experiencing success.
Highly regarded junior Sienna Wilson praised the role of Van Brakel in her growth, and she is one of several young players skilled enough to fit into seniors training seamlessly.
“There’s a lot of quality netballers here,” said A-Grade coach Vanessa San Jose.
“Some are still developing their skills, but umpiring the under-17s two weeks ago, I got to see the talent of these girls up close and I was blown away by the players who are the future of this club.”
Long time player Donna Kellett also notes the significance of San Jose in the development of the emerging talent.
“We’ve had some great coaches come through over the years and they all have the same quality of not only being good with the seniors, but getting juniors going as well, which Vanessa does,” Kellett said.
“When you have good leadership at the top of the grades, it filters down.”
San Jose’s vocal and encouraging leadership has also assisted the senior netballers.
“I used to be a really negative player and get down on myself but Vanessa gives me the confidence to turn something bad into motivation which brings the best of me onto the court,” A-Grade player Chloe Crouch said.
Establishment of a committee:
Prior to 2024, Melinda Wilson took charge of netball club, with support from Seers.
This season, a boom of volunteers wanting to assist has eased the work load.
It has allowed the club to ensure off-court matters such as sponsorship, advocacy and training equipment are taken care of.
Culture
Melinda Wilson has been the driving force behind the culture which has sparked the organic growth.
Given her decades long involvement with local netball, she has both an understanding of what a successful local netball club needs and the network to bring it to life.
“It was simply picking up the phone and making some phone calls and they trusted that I would do what was best for the club,” Wilson said.
“To get a lot of people i know and trust together in one club has been really cool.”
Players spend as much time watching and supporting other Redbacks teams as they do on the court.
The energy that the junior netballers bring is palpable across the whole club.
“The success of the netball is adding coffee vans, kids, egg and bacons in the morning,” said president Craig Seers.
“We haven’t got junior footballers so we’re reliant on this sort of stuff to give us culture.”
San Jose noted the culture, which encourages members to assist in off-court matters.
“It’s such a tight-knit family-oriented group who welcome absolutely anybody with open arms,” she said.
Support of the footy club
Club president Craig Seers defers most netball-specific questions to Melinda Wilson and others knowing they are better equipped to answer such questions.
But the netballers are acutely aware that when something is asked of Seers, or people involved in the football side of the club, everything will be done to accommodate them.
“The netball club was a basket case coming off Covid-19 and now, the coaching is phenomenal and everyone is buying in,” Seers said.
Club volunteer and player Chloe Gilland has seen the increasing unity between the football and netball club.
“We always do fundraising together as a club, even if the money is just going towards the netball,” Gilland said.
Football players are also regularly watching and supporting the netballers, which has been enabled this season by a change to the South East Premier League for all but one senior team meaning sides play at Robert Booth Reserve.
“The footballers really care, whereas where we’ve come from, they would not have even know you existed,” said one person involved in the club.”
Connection of the junior and senior club
Juniors play in senior teams. Seniors assist junior coaching.
The willingness of everyone to progress the club ensures that juniors are not only playing in senior teams, but also express themselves on and off the court.
“Having the juniors and seeing how hard they work – they deserve to have a thriving club when they’re older which motivates us,” Gilland said.
The seniors, who understand their status as role models for juniors, assist with skill development, helping establish relationships and increasing their rate of improvement and joy.
“At the moment, the juniors are probably the most important members of the club and we’re dedicating a lot of time into them,” Wilson said.
