A lifetime involved in netball deserves to be celebrated, and as part of National Volunteer Week, Netball Victoria has recognised the efforts of Lakes Entrance Netball Association stalwart and volunteer Janet Parker, highlighting her incredible contribution to the netball community.
Through years of dedication, passion and support, Parker has helped create positive experiences and lasting connections for so many involved in the game.
For more than 30 years, Parker has been the kind of volunteer every sporting community hopes for — someone who sees a need, steps forward and creates opportunities for others.
Parker’s journey in netball volunteering began in 1994 at Pakenham, where she started as an umpire and coach for her daughter’s under nine team.
From there, volunteering quickly became a family affair. Over the years, Parker has coached, umpired, coordinated programs and helped establish opportunities for players of all ages and abilities.
One experience, however, changed the direction of her volunteering forever.
After attending a Coaching Athletes with a Disability course, Parker returned determined to create more inclusive opportunities within netball. She launched an All-Abilities netball team and later established All-Abilities Net-Set-Go programs, helping children and adults with disability experience the joy of the game.
“I was hooked, and very excited to go back and start my own program,” Parker said.
That passion for inclusion has continued across multiple communities.
Following a move to Drouin in 2004, Parker established Net-Set-Go programs and All-Abilities competitions that are still running more than two decades later.
When she later relocated to Lakes Entrance, she discovered there was no junior netball competition in the area. Rather than accept that reality, Parker got to work, joining the local committee, delivering free clinics at schools and helping launch new junior competitions that have since grown year-on-year.
Today, the Lakes Entrance Netball Association includes Net-Set-Go participants, under nine and under 13 competitions, accredited coaches and a growing group of young umpires.
Parker has also played a key role in strengthening coaching and umpiring pathways within the region, encouraging volunteers to become accredited and mentoring the next generation of officials.
“We are in a really good place at the moment with all coaches and umpires being accredited,” Parker said.
For the modest volunteer, involvement has always been about creating opportunities and helping people feel connected.
“It is the joy of seeing players on the court enjoying themselves, offering them the opportunity to meet new people, learn new skills, without them even realising the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes,” Parker said.
One moment in particular remains especially meaningful. Parker recalled receiving a phone call from a participant in the women’s social netball competition who admitted she had been nervous to return to the sport after many years away.
After her first game, the player shared how welcomed, supported and included she felt, and how much she had realised she needed netball back in her life.
For Parker, it perfectly captured the impact community sport can have.
“We are offering a safe place in the community for kids and women to come and have fun while playing the game that I love,” she said.
Among her many proud moments, one stands above the rest: seeing an All-Abilities Net-Set-Go participant in a wheelchair toss the coin alongside Kate Moloney during an Inclusion Round match for the Melbourne Vixens.
Now, Parker is watching the next generation continue the work she started, including her own granddaughter, who coaches Net-Set-Go, umpires junior games and plays herself.
“I smile because we are offering a safe place in the community for kids and women to come and have fun while playing the game that I love,” Parker said.
