Saturday Serve: Sport’s our heart and soul

AS we get on with our busy lives, it’s worth taking a breather for a moment to reflect on the wonderful return to normality, especially with community sport.

None of us will easily forget the torturous lockdowns over the past couple of years, but it’s perhaps given us a better appreciation of what we have in life now.

I’ve been keeping it real with the punters on the sidelines of SFNL game days since the Good Friday season opener at Henshilwood Oval.

The smiles and banter among fans, along with the on-field sweat, smiles and tears, have made a welcome comeback.

It’s been so good seeing the happy looks on people’s faces at game days.

Mums and dads cheering for their kids, new and long-time club supporters tucking into a hot dog or hot chips with gravy (and washing it down with a cold one) as they talk with their mates, and club officials going about their business without COVID protocols to worry about.

Yes, the COVID disease remains ever present. But so, too, does the need for mental-health nourishment for every single one of us.

I don’t mind telling you that the repeated lockdowns stuffed my mental health. I needed to get away from the demands of journalism for a period of time last year to recover.

I’m now triple vaxxed and thankfully haven’t had COVID yet. But, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, I’ll get it. And I’m OK with that.

It’ll happen because I come across many people in my travels as a journalist each week.

I’m happy to risk it, though, because my mental health has improved so much by being back out in the community.

The vast majority of the population would feel the same way as we flick the switch back to BC (Before COVID) times.

I do this job because I love meeting people of all walks of life. And that happens at a footy and netty game day.

Whatever sport you’re involved with, I hope you take a moment today to reflect on how great it is to once again be unshackled out in the community.*****

A Power play

ANY coach will tell you that there’s nothing better than red-hot competition for places in a team.

It improves the depth of the team and raises the bar for players’ performances, week-in, week-out.

Vanessa Power has long been the primary weapon – the marquee player, if you like – for the Mildura Heat women’s team.

The 35-year-old rightly grabs the headlines for her scoring prowess and, on occasion, almost single-handedly winning games for her team.

But, like all top sportspeople, she has an ego and a patch to protect as the team’s star player.

A well-credentialed new import, Hungarian Fanni Szabo, landed in Mildura last week to link up with the Heat for their Big V Division 1 campaign in 2022.

Unfortunately, a paperwork hiccup delayed her debut by a week.

However, she was on the sidelines to watch her previously winless teammates take on Craigieburn.

As coach James Madigan observed, Power, returning from a calf injury, suddenly found an extra gear as she put in a vintage all-round display.

Her 26-point heroics (along with four steals, three rebounds, three assists and a block), however, only lasted for 18 minutes before copping some friendly fire from a teammate.

Power came out of the collision second-best. She was mildly concussed and kept out of the game for remaining minutes of the team’s breakthrough win, which she laid the foundations for.

Madigan noted post-game how the competitive instincts came out in the 35-year-old as she faces a test of being the team’s best player.

“There could have been a message to Fanni there, letting her know she’s been here a while and can play,” he said.

“I love that sort of competitiveness in the team though.”