Maddi Searle is making it her personal mission to bridge the gaps between grass roots netball in regional areas and those in the south east corner.
The 25-year-old is confident of doing so in her role as Community Development Officer with Netball Queensland, with her key focus on coaching and umpire development.
And the Townville local has a clear plan of how she wants to complete this mission.
“The main goal I have in this position is to bring more opportunities to coaches, umpires, and players in regional associations to ensure netball is accessible and inclusive to everyone no matter where they’re located in Queensland,” she said.
“A large portion of my role is working with associations to understand the gaps they feel they have and then to facilitate clinics to help fill those gaps.
“Growing up playing netball in Townsville gave me a really great perspective and highlighted some of the challenges that players, coaches, and umpires in regional areas face.”
Searle is under no illusion that what she and Netball Queensland want to achieve won’t happen easily or overnight.
The CDO is quite artistic away from the netball court and that skillset is likely to see her tap into that creative mindset to paint a more positive picture.
“One of the biggest challenges I face in my role is distance,” she said.
“If I were to do a round trip to the three associations that are the furthest from Townsville in my area it would take me nearly 30 hours of driving.”
Searle grew up playing netball from the age of seven, before moving into coaching where she has a decade of experience topped off with having been an umpire for several years.
From that involvement she believes the community netball world has shaped her into the person she is today, and now wants to pay it forward to those she works with.
“I have never worked in sport before but have been involved in a volunteer capacity for quite a while, holding positions on executives and subcommittees at both club and association level,” Searle explained.
“I grew up surrounded by countless passionate, committed, and selfless women who passed their love and passion for netball onto me.
“I am excited to hold a position with Netball Queensland that gives me an opportunity to pass those same values onto netballers across North Queensland.”
