To say Emma George has a love for netball would be a massive understatement.
Spend even a few minutes talking to the Logan-born 25-year-old and the passion she has for the sport, and particularly the coaching aspect of it, will be unmistakeable.
Therefore, making it obvious why Emma was the standout applicant in a comprehensive recruitment process to join Netball Queensland’s community sport team as a Community Development Officer.
The role will see Emma based out of the NQ office at Brisbane’s Nissan Arena working closely with associations and clubs - which she said she is extremely excited about.
“For me I want to spend a lot of time developing the coaching space,” Emma said
“I want to play a role in making sure the netball coaches we have in the QLD community are the best in the country, and that every coach is fully equipped and has access to the resources they need to be the best coach they can be.”
Emma’s coaching resume speaks for itself, with roles such as head coach of the Netball Select program at Redeemer Lutheran College, a assistant coach of Ruby Brisbane South Wildcats and various representative positions.
The Loganlea-based netball enthusiast, who is no stranger to the Netball Queensland office, also has a strong skillset in writing and public relations which will help her in the role.
“I did an internship in Marketing and Communications with Netball QLD in 2015 or so, and that lead to me doing some casual work for the organisation for almost a year,” she said.
“I absolutely loved my time with Netball QLD and I’m stoked to be back.
“Netball has always been one of my biggest passions in life, so being able to get paid to do what I already love is awesome.”
Despite her positive attitude and seemingly endless supply of enthusiasm, Emma admitted she knows she will face several challenges as a Community Development Officer.
“Queensland is a huge state, and our coaches in remote areas deserve just as much development as the coaches in the south-east,” she said.
“Finding ways to be able to deliver valuable development opportunities to coaches in remote areas is one challenging aspect of the role.
“Another challenge is one we would all be familiar with at this point: COVID-19. The pandemic has had a massive impact on our netball community, and these impacts are evolving and changing every week.
“Because of this, all the CDOs are working hard to adapt our content to ensure we can still provide some of these development opportunities to the community.”
Emma is the first of several Netball Queensland’s Community Development Officers who will be introduced in a series over the coming weeks.
