Walker Counting On Happy Homecoming

Newcastle Herald

Thursday August 2, 2007

Renee Valentine Netball

THERE is sure to be some gentle tugging of the heartstrings when Katie Walker returns to the site of her national netball league debut tomorrow night.

But there will be no time for sentimentality for the effervescent mid-court player once the game begins at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre between her former side the Hunter Jaegers and current team the Queensland Firebirds.

"I can't wait to catch up with everybody that will be good," Walker said.

"It will be a great night. I was so proud to be a Jaeger for those two years, so they have a special place in my heart.

"It will be good to see everybody and to be back there again, but when I'm on court there will be no love lost."

The Jaegers gave Walker her national league start after years of being overlooked in Queensland.

She was 25 when she stepped on court in the Jaegers' debut game in 2004 ironically against the Firebirds and Walker went on to play in all but six games for Hunter in two seasons.

She was voted Jaegers players' team player two years in a row before being a shock omission from the 2006 Hunter squad.

It was a tough break but there was no bitterness from the bubbly Queenslander, who played for Manly in the NSW State League last year before being given the chance to play for the Firebirds this season.

"I wasn't worried," Walker said.

"Something inside of me said that I wasn't finished because I didn't go out by my choice.

"I'm grateful that I ever got to play with them and I'm not going to whinge about what happened.

"It was a dream of mine for a long time to play for the Firebirds, and I'm grateful that when we moved to Sydney a NSW team was able to give me the opportunity to get to that level.

"And again, I'm grateful that it's led me back to here to play for the Firebirds where my heart was since they came in, and to represent the Firebirds is awesome."

Linking with the Firebirds presented certain challenges for Walker not only was she faced with returning to the country's elite competition after a year out, she also gave birth to her first child, daughter Kobi, in November.

"Vicki [Wilson] and Kylie [Sampson], the Firebirds coach and assistant coach, have just been amazing," Walker said.

"They said to me from the beginning, 'You come back to training whenever you're ready to come back to training. We start on the 23rd of January but you start when you're ready.'

"So I didn't feel like I was letting someone down if I didn't go back, but at the same time I was really motivated because they did give me an open door they said there's a spot there if you want it.

"That really suited me. I like the challenge of having to get back to being really fit."

The physically-gifted Walker did that with ease, and pregnancy did not slow her down. She ran two half marathons in the early stages, played in the NSW State League grand final six months along and ran within a week after "a really good natural birth".

She was on deck for the Firebirds' first training session but had to wait for her chance to show her worth on court. That came in round five against the Sydney Swifts, and Walker has been in the Firebirds' starting side since.

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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