One of the region’s best up-and-coming netballers recently took her talents to Canberra with School Sport Australia hosting its national 15-and-under netball tournament from July 24 to 29.
Travelling to the nation’s capital as part of the Victorian squad, Barooga’s Mackenzie O’Dwyer took on the role of vice captain for her home state.
O’Dwyer, who plays at Shepparton, shone through the midcourt at the week-long event.
After a jam-packed week of netball action O’Dwyer said they had an inconsistent week at the tournament.
“We ended up finishing fifth overall,” O’Dwyer said.
“We had a few close games but didn’t get into the top four and didn’t finish in the medal places but we did play some really good netball.
“Personally I think I had my good and my bad games.”
O’Dwyer explained that while it was a tiring week, it was a successful one.
“I just had a crack and it was lots of fun,” she said.
“We were there for the full week and made plenty of new friends and bonded really well with a lot of states, especially New South Wales and Western Australia, we became very, very close with them.
“You’re around people that have the same interest as you and it’s so good, everyone gets around each other and it makes the tournament 10 times better.”
The Barooga talent’s previous tournament experience put her in good stead for the 2022 edition, with the vice captain working alongside a teammate from her previous Big V outing in the 12-and-under tournament.
She said it was a “huge honour” to be vice captain and would look to continue to see how far she could take her netball.
“I’m looking to go into the Victorian Netball League next year,” she said.
“I’ll have a look at a few of the clubs and then just see where that takes me and then have a crack at the 17-and-under state team maybe.”
With two further state tournaments coming up this year O’Dwyer will be hoping to do her best to get noticed by state scouts over the coming months.