This is the story of the roller coaster ride the Middlemount Community Sports Association has ridden on its way to attending next month’s Nissan State Age.
Providing the recap from the day the idea came about to the ups and downs experienced since, is Kim Leanne – one of the main driving forces behind the school entry.
In telling the story, Kim shows that she wears her heart on her sleeve, but more importantly she reminds how important netball is and that is it far more than ‘just a game’.
I have been with MCSA Netball for 10 years, over that time I have had to come to terms with the fact that Middlemount is an extremely transient town, where most families leave when their children finish primary school, so most of the time we only have NetSetGo aged children, coaches too tend to come and go.
I have also had to come to terms with the size of our club.
We only have one team per age group. This means we don't have a weekly competition, we are only able to play other teams if we travel to carnivals or organise cluster days.
Which leads us to the third thing that I have had to embrace - our distance from our surrounding clubs (this year's Suncorp ad hit me deep).
Most of the time to play other teams we have to travel a six-hour round trip, on top of that you have to convince a minimum of seven players that this is a great idea.
I can tell you that it takes some convincing at the start of the season, but once parents see their children play, even if they don't win a game, those parents are lining up for the next one.
Last year I travelled with the Moranbah Netball Association as an umpire and my daughter played with the Blackwater Netball Association at the Nissan State Age Carnival.
I truly thought that this would be my only chance to experience this carnival, so I soaked it up.
When we returned and told our association members what it was like our then under-11 coach, Wendy, asked if it was possible to take a team.
I told her that it was open to all associations, but we have never had enough 12-year-olds or the support team to back such a huge undertaking.
She spoke to some parents and her assistant coach and came back to me saying she has enough players staying in 2021 to make a team and the parents are keen.
I told her that this would take dedication and money, so we started fitness programs for the off-season for anyone wanting to play and well anyone wanting off season fitness training.
These kids showed up to every training session without fail even in the blistering heat, so I agreed to take them to State Age.
Then Wendy the coach came to me to let me know her husband had been offered a new job and they were leaving town and her offsider also decided to step back from coaching this year.
We lost a player as well to the curse of this transient town.
I pretty much cried for three days straight.
Friends asked me why I was so worried, just let it go. But I couldn't, I had these amazing girls and boys in front of me who had shown me that they were willing to put in the work and I could let them down.
I had a community that was willing to back them financially, I couldn't let them down.
So I kept going, kept them going through fitness training and well honestly blindly hoped it would just work out.
My dear friend and club treasurer Kerri also pulled me out of my slump by guiding me back to the path and letting me vent all of my frustrations without letting me give up.
Then I caught wind of a rumour that a lady had moved to town from NSW. She had no children in town but was a rep coach at her old club.
I sent Jacinta a Facebook message and met her for coffee, she told me that she really wasn't looking to be involved in netball this year but she would meet the team and parents and see how it goes.
I'm pretty sure she thought I had a screw loose and fought the urge to run the other way, because she had to take them back to basics for the first few training sessions but I knew their potential and she kept going.
We didn't have a full team so we had to look out of town for potential players.
We approached Clermont and Dysart but had no takers.
We have Grace, a former Middlemount player who is boarding in Rockhampton and her brother Sam plays for the team too.
Their cousin Alexis from Mackay who was unable to commit to the Mackay Rep program and Brodee from Mackay who missed out on CQ School trials but had connected well with two of our players at the trials.
We also picked up Simran in town who had never really played netball, but I could see her potential and convinced her to come and have a go.
Along with the rest of the team these kids just connect like they have been together forever.
Covid, like everyone else has been a slap in the face and we are all over it.
Though we haven't been affected like others have been and we are so grateful for that.
Keeping the momentum going for this term has probably been harder on the parents and organisers than it has on the players, but we will just be so happy to get to State Age.
For our two boys who play, this may be their only opportunity, so all the fingers and toes are crossed.
The 2021 Nissan State Age event will be held at Sunshine Coast Netball Association from Saturday 25 to Tuesday 28 September.
