Like most girls of her era, Michelle Wilson started playing netball on a Saturday morning, on the dirt courts at Corowa’s Ball Park.
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“Mrs (Lola) Forge was my first coach and my team was called the Dodgers,” she told The Free Press. “I remember playing finals but not if we won.”
Michelle has achieved a much-decorated netball career but the sport was not her first choice. As a teenager she was keenly interested in horse riding and was a member of the Corowa Pony Club for a number of years.
At about 17-years-of-age, a friend convinced her to try out for Wahgunyah netball. “Not having played for a few years I was a bit rusty and I didn’t rate my chances on being selected,” Michelle recalled.
“I played most of my netball as a wing attack, but an injury to Vanessa Ronnfeldt in a grand-final saw me put in wing defence. We lost the grand-final to Daysdale by one goal. Since then I played WD.
“It was at Wahgunyah that my interest in netball developed into a passion for the game.”
Michelle said she was fortunate to have been coached by Chris Poidevin and Karen Logie, “Both ladies are very knowledgeable and set high standards,” the former Corowa High School student and now Woolworths Corowa online assistant manager said.
“I spent around eight years at Wahgunyah and had the good fortune to play with many great netballers - Kate Davie was one who was always impressive. – and we played finals every year, winning some and losing some.
“I remember an intense rivalry with Buraja. The Seymour and Longmire girls were formidable opponents.” Michelle captained the A grade in the last few years at Wahgunyah where she won a B&F.
In 1993, Ovens and Murray Netball league began and Michelle “loved it from the start”.
“Having played in the Coreen league for a few years I was looking to challenging my netball and the new netball competition in the Ovens and Murray was the perfect opportunity.
“The first years we trained and played our games at Morris Park netball courts, so the netball was quite detached from the football.
“We were reasonably successful in the early years, A and B Grades playing in finals, B Grade taking home two premierships.
“I don’t know how but I won the A grade B and F in the first year. To this day I still shake my head about that. We had some classy players in our team. I rated Libby O’Donoghue, Maree Jones, Robyn Schilg, Carmel Kingston and Liz Comtesse far above me. I was named in Corowa’s team of the decade many years ago, but now I would be lucky to bring the oranges!”
Corowa celebrates player milestones and at one point Michelle held the record for most games played (203). “That honour now rightly sits with Casandra Hughes,” she said.
“Because I had played 200 games, the club awarded me a life membership. I am very humbled by this honour.”
Over the years Michelle won awards from most consistent to a B grade B and F, but emphasised she didn’t play for personal accolades, rather the camaraderie that she remembers the best.
Netball coaching was a role that she had not thought about, but Chris Poidevin encouraged her to give it a go.
“Chris and Karen both coached me again at Corowa,” Michelle said. “I modelled my coaching style on a mix of both ladies.” She was club coach at Corowa from 2000 to 2005, when “success was thin but every week we would give our all”.
“I was so proud of the netballers in those years. No matter how badly we lost, the girls remained committed, always turning up for training, giving everything on game day. Their resilience was amazing.”
Michelle completed her development coach accreditation, believing she had to lead from the front. “If I wanted the girls to give their best then I had to do the same,” she reasoned.
At the end of the 2005 season, Michelle knew it was time to step aside, believing if Corowa was to move forward they needed to bring in someone new.
Michelle’s intention was to retire but a friend convinced her to play at Rennie, where she played and then coached A, B and junior grades for a few years and really enjoyed her time.
Once again, she was thinking of retiring when approached to coach at CDHBU. “I saw potential in the club - girls with loads of talent,” she said.
“I believed I could help them reach their best. The players were fantastic to work with, they worked hard and very soon we turned the club’s fortunes around and the girls were starting to enjoy some success.” A and B Grades played finals, something that had not happened for CDHBU for many years.
Initially coaching A and B Grades, it extended in 2012, to coaching the Intermediates (Under 16s) with Lou Tilders, “This young team was amazing, unequalled in my eyes. We were struggling for numbers in the age group so we moved some much younger players up a division to field a side,” Michelle said.
“I couldn’t believe my luck to have a team brimming with talent, most going on to play at Corowa - Sophie Hanrahan, Grace Kingston, Ella Kingston, Brooke Wilson, Emma Wilson. It was this team that gave me my first premiership as a coach.”In 2013 Michelle wanted to learn more about umpiring, to improving her coaching skills and to start developing club umpires. She went to Albury netball association where Lee Shipard mentored her and she gained her C Badge.
Umpiring didn’t sit comfortably with Michelle at the start. “It was a huge challenge for me,” she said. “I persevered and under Lee’s expert guidance I progressed and discovered I did like umpiring.
“Not having done much umpiring in my time, I was eager to gain as much experience as I could. Fairly soon I was umpiring at Albury on a Monday night and on Saturdays umpiring Corowa’s 16s in the morning then heading to Rutherglen to umpire two games for them and loving it - I could still be involved with the sport and I have been able to get more exposure as an umpire.”In 2014, Michelle began as an O and M panel umpire, gaining her B Badge in the same year and named Ovens and Murray’s Umpire of the Year in 2015.
She has officiated at six Ovens and Murray grand-finals for all grades except A - that’s her ultimate goal.
Umpiring has opened up a brand new world for Michelle, umpiring at Victorian State titles in Werribee and Shepparton, Victorian association titles at SNHC, officiated at finals series for Hume, Ovens and King, and Upper Murray Leagues. She is now the joint umpire co-ordinator at Albury Netball Association.
Michelle is so impressed with Corowa netball. “The professionalism that Georgie Bruce has brought to the club is fantastic,” Michelle said. “Corowa is no longer chasing the standard they are setting it.
“The development of junior netball has been a masterful stroke of brilliance, for many years netball has struggled to compete with other sports, now under Georgie’s tutelage, it is thriving.
“Corowa are investing in the future of netball with their Roos Rookies and skill programs.”
Michelle has been a committee member at Corowa and said the real driving forces in the early days were Casandra Hughes, Libby O’Donoghue, Maree Jones, Karen Logie and Chris Poidevin.
“The commitment from these ladies formed a solid platform for the netball club to build on.”
And in the words of Georgie Bruce: “Michelle Wilson has been a great sports person.”
Journalist