Spotlight On ... Emma Kelly: Netball

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday November 6, 2008

Age: 16. Suburb: Shell Cove.

School: Illawarra Sports High.

Club: Wests.

Position: goal attack/wing attack.

Other interests: touch footy, beach and tennis.

Other sports: athletics, I am with the Albion Park club. My best event is high jump.

Goals in sport: to become a better player and have fun.

Academy goals: to learn new things and become better.

Career goals: I would like to play for New South Wales and maybe one day play in the new national netball competition.

What motivates you to train? To become a better player. I love training though so it isn't too hard to get going.

How do you relax after training? Just come home and grab something to eat and watch the TV show Home and Away.

Music: Chris Brown or Rihanna.

Most like to meet: Sydney Swifts player Catherine Cox - I did get to meet her once when she visited my school, but I didn't get to speak to her much.

How did you start? Mum started me playing at six and I just continued because I love it.

What sort of things have you been doing with the Academy squad? We do a lot of fitness. Beep tests, agility, vertical jump testing and ball skills. I enjoy the beep test -I got a good score, first in the team. The fitness work has really helped my game.

Other involvement in netball? I have been umpiring for about three years. It helps me learn about the game and I'm learning not to take my frustrations out on the ref. I'm a lot kinder to the umpires now.

How does playing with the academy team help your game? We travel a lot and get to test ourselves against different opponents. We've played in Canberra, Sydney and here in Wollongong as well. It's a really good standard and it's really hard. It's a lot harder than normal club competition.

What would you do if you won $1 million? Give it back to my parents because that's about how much I would owe them. Then probably go on a holiday.

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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