AFTER 10 years as a dedicated young netballer, Bridie Stewart is now celebrating her selection in a Queensland representative team.
Bridie first started playing netball when she was eight at the Beaudesert Netball Club, and now she has a photo of herself in the Queensland U17 team.
Her selection took her to the National Netball Championships in Sydney during April.
“It was great to receive this opportunity. It felt like a dream come true,” Bridie said.
“It didn’t really hit me that I was playing for Queensland. When I got the phone call that I made it in the team, I just went silent.
“The person on call was like, ‘Are you okay? Do you want to be in this team?’. I was just speechless.”
Her teammates were players throughout the sunshine state and most of them she had never played with or against before.
This wasn’t an obstacle for her as Bridie felt the team meshed well over their short time together.
“We definitely bonded in our time on and off court,” she said.
“It was so fun; the vibes of it all were good. We were a pretty good team, even though we finished fifth in the competition.”
A highlight for Bridie at the championships was when she was awarded ‘Player of the Match’ during one of the games, which she put down to her signature move: The Layup.
Layups are a basketball technique that Bridie merged into netball to improve her shooting as her main position is as a goal shooter.
She now plays for Bond University Bull Sharks which enabled her to win state selection.
Bridie hopes to one day secure a contract to play in the big league.
Her next goal is to make the Queensland Firebirds or Sunshine Coast Lightning Academy squads.
“If I make the Australian team, then that’s just a bonus,” she said.
