There was a very special recognition of some long-standing heroes of the netball community last weekend with five volunteers presented the Anne Clark BEM Service Award.
Presented at Netball NSW's 2020 High Tea celebration in Sydney Olympic Park, the Awards are given in acknowledgement of those who give endlessly to the game and whom, through their generosity, have made netball one of the most successful sports in Australia.
They are named after Anne Clark BEM, whose name is synonymous with Netball in NSW.
She was awarded her all Australia Umpires badge in 1931 and umpired at international tournaments from 1938 to 1975. Other notable credits in her career with Netball in NSW include selection as Netball NSW President from 1950–1978 and Life Membership in 1968.
In recognition of her services to netball, Clark was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1975.
Netball NSW would like to congratulate the following 2020 recipients of the Award:
ROBYN ELLIS – St George District
A Life Member of the St George District Netball Association, Robyn Ellis started playing netball for Oatley RSL in 1977 and has been associated with the club since.
In that time she has been a player, umpire, coach and administrator, and served as the club President since 2007. She has been awarded Life Membership of Oatley RSL and won the NSW Youth Club Corporation Award for her contributions to the Oatley RSL Netball Club.
A mentor for many umpires and bench officials, Robyn has given thankless hours to the grading and structure of winter day competitions for more than ten years in her role on the St George Executive Committee. She always has the best interest of Clubs and the Association at heart when considering grading, dealing with competition complaints and providing clarification on grading rules.
She was an active member of the COVID Committee which met on a twice weekly basis to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the St George winter day competition.
Her passion for the sport has developed from a young age and has spread across all areas of the game. She is a hard worker and a team player, and vital to the success of Oatley and St George.
LUCIA WILCOX – Newcastle Netball Association
A Life Member of the Newcastle Netball Association since 2005, Lucia Wilcox is the current Assistant Secretary and Carnival Convenor of the Association.
She started her involvement in netball as a player for the Hunter School and went on to be a rep player for the Maitland Association from 1962 to 1972. She played for Newcastle as an Opens player from 1975-1984 and in 1982 was a NSW State Team representative.
As well as playing, Lucia has also given a huge amount of her time to coaching. From 1986-1987 she was the Newcastle 21s rep coach, having coached the 14s and 15s in the years before.
She was the Newcastle State League administrator between 2010 and 2012, and served as the Hunter United Metro League administrator from 2012-2018.
Today she organises Social Twilight Netball for Newcastle Netball Association and is a current member of the Greater Bank Series Committee for the development of that competition.
FRAN REYNOLDS – Randwick Netball Association
A recipient of the Australian Sports Medal in 2000, a Local Hero Award in 2015 and a NSW Volunteer of the Year Award Recognition Certificate in 2020, Fran Reynolds has been a member of Matraville Tigers Netball Club for over 45 years.
She served on the Club's Executive Committee for over 30 years, over which time she fulfilled an array of roles including President, Vice-President, Team Coach and Selector.
At Association level Fran has served on Randwick’s Executive Committee for the last 43 years. She is currently Senior Vice-President, prior to which held the positions of Junior Convener, Assistant Treasurer and Junior Vice-President.
She also serves on the Association's Policy Committee, Grading Committee and Fixtures Committee and represents the Association on the Randwick Sports Council.
On top of all that, for 39 years Fran has been a Representative Team Manager. She is much loved for picking up players who have no transport and driving them to carnivals, state championships, training sessions and to Netball Central.
KATHY REMBISZ – Shoalhaven Netball Association
A Life Member of Shoalhaven Netball Association since 2015 and a Board Member of the South Coast Blaze Premier League Franchise, Kathy Rembisz has been an excellent ambassador for the sport of netball in the Shoalhaven and South Coast region for many years.
As the current President of Shoalhaven Netball, Kathy ensures that all policies are adhered to and reviewed and amended as necessary to suit the Association’s needs. In these COVID-19 times she has ensured they follow all guidelines and constantly update COVID-19 plans to allow competition to continue. She also ensures that competitions run smoothly, and identifies necessary adjustments when things are not working.
She was instrumental in ensuring Shoalhaven would be part of the South Coast Blaze, something she felt was vital to keeping local talent from moving to bigger metro Associations. Kathy has coached and developed many young athletes to further their netball careers, and Shoalhaven is proud to have had players represent NSW Netball on many occasions.
Kathy spent three years working in education in Hong Kong, and became an active member of Hong Kong Netball Association. She coached the Under 17’s National team that competed at the Asian Games and was awarded the Presidents’ Award on two occasions for her contribution to the sport there.
Coaching Shoalhaven representative teams is her passion – so much so that her family understands that they may have to take a back seat during netball season. Thankfully they are supportive of her love of the game.
SUE ORR – Hawkesbury City Netball Association
Sue Orr has been a stalwart of the Hawkesbury City Netball Association for many years. A Life Member since 2005 and an Association Service Award recipient in 2004, Sue remains an active contributor at Executive level, which she’s been involved in since 1993.
At the heart of Sue’s involvement is umpiring. As Hawkesbury’s umpire convenor since 1996 she has done a huge amount of work to:
- Ensure the promotion and protection of umpires
- Help train and organise workshops for officials
- Mentor umpires to the C, B and A badges
- Review all representative selections to ensure the equity of umpire supply and training opportunities to all clubs in the Association
Sue attends Hawkesbury courts every Saturday from 7am-5pm and has given in excess of 40 years’ service to the Association.
Even in a COVID 19-affected season she structured her program to maintain relevancy whilst conscious of all health requirements. Despite these obstacles she still managed to have two young umpires acquire their national badges!
She is a “doer” and a quiet achiever with the dedication to instil her love of the game in generations to come.
