Young gun netballer Maggie Guinan has her eyes set on September, when she will compete with the Australian Budgies Indigenous netball team in New Zealand.
Guinan is in Year 8 at St Augustine’s College and was told about her selection in January this year at the National Indigenous Netball Championships in Queensland.
At the National Indigenous Netball Championships, which ran from January 10 to 15, she represented Victoria and vied for a place in the national team.
With her place in the competition now secured, she will head to New Zealand in September and face other sides from across the Commonwealth.
At 13, the determined defender demonstrated exceptional skill by competing against athletes up to three years her senior in the under-16 division of the trial competition.
Guinan said she was elated when she learned about her national team selection.
Her mother, Simone Guinan, who will accompany her in September, said she was proud of her.
Simone spent years training her as her coach in the under-9 side in the Kyabram league and taught the young star everything she knows today.
“Not that she’d admit to that,” Simone said.
Guinan has played netball since she was six, starting in the Kyabram Netball Association in the under-9s.
She then played for the Shepparton Netball Association’s under-13 squad and was picked to trial for the Bendigo Sports Academy’s under-15 netball side.
She was successful and represented BAS in the 2023 Victorian Netball Championships.
In 2023, she played for Tongala Football Netball Club in the under-15 competition and was the Murray league’s best-and-fairest runner-up for her division.
Now, with the date when she flies to New Zealand to represent Australia creeping up on her, Guinan isn’t fazed in the slightest.
The Budgies’ training session will be the first time since the Queensland trials that Guinan has seen her teammates.
She said she’s excited to meet and train with her team, but she wouldn’t forget about her friends at home once her name is in lights.
“They’re really excited and happy for me,” Guinan said.
Guinan is looking for sponsors to help her fund her journey to New Zealand.
If you are interested in sponsoring Maggie Guinan, contact Simone Guinan on 0488 591 555 or at johnsimone1@bigpond.com