Sport
11 July, 2022
Avoca celebrate Colleen Soulsby’s 400th game and three decades of commitment to the Doggies
Three decades after Colleen Soulsby first stepped on to a netball court for Avoca, the long-serving Bulldogs great was able to celebrate her 400th game on Saturday with friends and family as she reminisced on a storied individual career in the...
Three decades after Colleen Soulsby first stepped on to a netball court for Avoca, the long-serving Bulldogs great was able to celebrate her 400th game on Saturday with friends and family as she reminisced on a storied individual career in the process.
Fittingly for Soulsby and her Bulldogs teammates, Avoca’s C grade side were able to get the win over Carisbrook, winning 48-25, whilst the A grade Bulldogs were also able to maintain their unbeaten run later in the day as they defeated the Redbacks by six goals.
With a big crowd on hand to welcome Soulsby to the court, minutes after finishing her junior coaching duties, she felt honoured to be greeted the way she did, especially running through a specially made banner with her grandson Luke.
“It meant everything. Little Luke running through the banner with me, my other daughters were there holding the banner and it was absolutely fantastic,” she said.
“I felt very honoured to be there. There was a lot of older teammates coming to watch and family and friends and there was a lot of love and appreciation around the court.”
Many who were there were emotional when Soulsby ran through the banner, including Avoca’s netball delegate, Colleen Drummond.
“I got a bit teared up seeing Col run through the banner. It was very cute,” she said.
“She’s a good role model. She’s very calm and positive.”
The mutual respect between both Drummond and Soulsby runs back three decades, going back to when Soulsby was coming through the club as a junior.
“When I was younger, Colleen Drummond was one of my idols, I used to watch her play as a goal shooter in the seniors and I’ve been able to get to play with her,” Soulsby said.
Meantime, Drummond says that the club wouldn’t be the same place without Soulsby’s influence.
“We’d be lost without her. It’s been tough to get junior coaches, and we begged her to do the job for our 17s and 15s this year. We rang her and she said ‘yeah, I’ll do it’,” Drummond said.
“We kind of feel like it’s our job now to help the kids — we have a duty to get their confidence up, and we need to provide our experience with the youth coming through.”
With a CV including best and fairest awards in both B grade and C grade at Avoca, six premierships and a minor premiership, the memories for Soulsby are endless, yet she still has a couple of moments that she holds dearly.
“There’s a couple of memories that stand out — I played in a B grade premiership in 2013 and we were sitting fifth towards the end of the season, then we won the last game, all our finals and won the grand final. I didn’t think it was going to happen but there were a great bunch of girls in that team,” she said.
“I have played with my older daughters — it’s been an honour to play in the same grade as them for a game or two. I have my youngest one coming up and starting to enjoy her netball too. I’m a proud parent of some good little netballers there.”
As for the immediate future for Soulsby, her focus is ensuring that the juniors coming through are able to see good time on the court.
“For the love of the game, I could go forever. There’s a lot of juniors coming up though, so I’m happy to step aside very shortly and cheer them on from the sidelines, I reckon. Unless they’re very short soon, I might be on the sidelines soon enough,” she said.
Soulsby and her Avoca team-mates now look ahead to their game against Trentham this weekend.