Last Friday, three Ocean Grove B Grade netballers were planning on going along to the club’s A Grade grand final to support the team along with a few hundred other fans.
They would each get a phone call that would change everything.
The calls came from coach Mel Holmes telling Emma Jones, Mia Smith and Claudia Britt to bring their gear in case they were needed on the court.
Needed they were and now all three are A Grade premiership players.
Jones was called into action at goal defence to replace Amanda O’Malley, who took an ankle injury into the game. She was always the most likely to get a run.
Smith came on at wing defence when Gemma Bell was sent off in the third term. She stayed there with Holmes not wanting to risk a second card.
Courtney Leith replaced co-captain Emily Moroney after she suffered a serious knee injury and acquitted herself well, but Britt then came on and had an immediate impact with her zippy play at centre.
After the game, all three players couldn’t quite believe what happened.
“Couldn’t get much better than that,” Jones said.
“When the siren went off we had three B Graders on the court and that’s awesome. To get it done with three B Graders in our side shows the depth in our club.”
Smith said she was “a bit bewildered” after getting the call-up and then actually taking to the court.
“I didn’t think this would happen – let’s be honest, it’s pretty sick,” she said.
“We do have a wonderful playing group and we’re close knit so it was nice to do it as a whole club and as a team.”
Britt knew her cameo occurred because of the injury to Moroney and obviously preferred it didn’t happen in those circumstances.
“Unfortunately Emmy got injured, (and) I was expecting just to be a cheer squad member,” she said.
“It was amazing to go for a run – it’s super exciting. We (herself and Smith) both got the call up and I don’t think we expected to play. We just thought we’d bring some energy and there we were.”
