The final word

The Youth Advisory Group was established by the Netball Queensland Board to provide a forum for members to discuss views and ideas and provide feedback to Netball Queensland management on the youth sentiment and netball experience. RGS Year 10 student Katie Warmington was selected for the 2023 Group.

Katie Warmington is a Year 10 boarder from the Biloela district who both plays netball and umpires for the RGS Netball Club.

It was while sitting at home over a school holiday break that Katie spotted a Facebook post calling on applications for Netball Queensland’s 2023 Youth Advisory Group (YAG).

This is just the second year the State body had hosted this Group.

“I thought it looked interesting. I thought I’d give it a go so I wrote my application,’’ Katie said.

Katie was one of 10 people, ranging in age from 12 to 22 from across Queensland, selected for this year’s programme.

The group has already held a series of online meetings this year, looking at the workings of the advisory group and collaborating ideas.

“One of the ideas I brought to the table was I would love to see more men participating in netball around Queensland,’’ Katie said. “There’s lots of other ideas. Indigenous inclusion a big one.”

Katie had already enjoyed immersing herself in netball, enjoying both playing and umpiring with the RGS Netball Club in Rockhampton, but she was keen to further expand her connection to the sport she first started playing in Biloela in 2019 as a Year 6 student.

Netball Queensland sees the Youth Advisory Group as a great personal and professional development opportunity. The Group is not a decision-making body but provides insight based on the collective wisdom of the group and the best available information provided by Netball Queensland.

The Group catches up across 10 meetings from February through to November.

Netball Queensland General Manager Glenn Dennis said last year’s Group provided valuable feedback to Netball Queensland management on youth sentiment and the experience of participating in netball.

“They set a platform for members to discuss views and ideas on multiple topics,’’ Mr Dennis said.

“We are excited to see what this new cohort can achieve in 2023 to build on this platform and provide benefits to themselves and the entire netball community.”

Why did Katie want to become even more involved with the sport?

“I would just love to see the sport grow further. Someone has to do it (help the growth process),’’ Katie said.

“I fell in love with netball when I first started playing. Netball has a great culture around it.”

The Netball Queensland Youth Advisory Group is midway through their meetings for 2023 and is now starting to finalise their action plans before coming together at a Leaders Conference later this year.

Katie said the Group was more involved than what she initially thought it would be.

“I thought it would just be a group of young people and I wasn’t sure if anyone would really listen to us,’’ Katie said.

“Our meetings include the Netball Queensland Chief Executive Officer, Head of Inclusion and different people at the online meetings.

“They (Netball Queensland) really care about what you have to say.

“I’m a student from Central Queensland in these forums with people leading the sport in our State. It feels amazing.”