She Runs The Game – Samantha Blackstone

I arrived here from South Africa when I was 10 and had already been playing netball for a number of years for my school team.  When I arrived in Melbourne there was no netball at school and as far as I knew, no Maccabi netball.  Not long after, the super Soo Isaacs came along and started coaching at North Eastern.  Soo started training a group of us after school and on Sunday mornings, and my memories of this time are so joyful and happy.  I was back playing the sport I loved, with girls I had just met who became lifelong friends, and with Soo, an amazing coach, mentor and just all-round incredible person who brought out the best in all of us.

This is my earliest memory of being a part of Maccabi which subsequently lead to many Carnivals, Maccabiah, and later, working with an incredible group of women – Sharon Roseman, Claire Isaacs, Helen Steinberg and the late Helen Adler – to form Maccabi Ajax Netball Club. This club merged together the North Eastern Netball Club (Doncaster kids) and the Maccabi Netball Club (kids from the other side of the Yarra) to create a single unified netball club for Maccabi.  My involvement in the administration of the club was one of the inspirations for my career in sport administration where I worked on international sporting events around the world. I think I realised how special it was to be a part of something where everyone is working together towards a common goal.

Now having two daughters who had no choice but to join the Pup program at MANC (I really did give them a small window of opportunity to say no while we were driving into the car park at Duncan McKinnon), I felt it was the right time to give back to the club that had given me so much. I came back as a coach and committee member, and I absolutely love both roles. The club has grown so much since my days as a player and become a lot more professional. It is incredible to see the change and growth, commitment and dedication of the other committee members who all voluntarily give up so much time to make the club the best it can be.

Girls in sport is a particular passion of mine. I worked with the Government on the Change our Game program, and we looked at the reasons why girls drop out of sport around the ages of 13-16. The general consensus was a lack of role models both on and off the sporting arena, lack of leadership roles, poor facilities, and interestingly it was found that if girls didn’t feel they were really good at something, they chose to rather not play.  These stereotypes are now changing at the elite level and hopefully it is trickling down to grassroots level and girls are feeling that they can do anything.  I love the Run Like a Girl commercial that showed how important it is for girls to believe they can run, throw and hit like themselves, and be proud and confident. Instilling confidence and changing the “I can’t do it” mentality opens up a whole new world where belief in yourself is so important. I try to instil this belief in my team as well as encouraging leadership, confidence, discipline, kindness, courage, and teamwork.

Playing as part of a team also provides the athletes with so many life skills and skills they can take into the playground at school. In netball everyone has a position, and each position is restricted in where they can go and what they can do (e.g. only two people on the court can score goals).  Often kids have a preconceived notion that certain positions are better than others because they can goal or they can run everywhere, but when they realise that every position and therefore every person on the court is just as important as every other person and position, they really learn about teamwork, reliance and dependability on each other.

I am lucky that the club took a chance on me and opened up the coaching roles to parents.  I feel so strongly about contributing to the club not only as a coach but also at the committee level to help provide the girls with role models, pathways for players and coaches, and also show them that even if you’re not the best player and don’t get picked for the top team, you will still have fun and get so many other benefits from being involved in a team spot that you will carry with you for the rest of your life.