By Stephanie Smarrelli
For proud Kamilaroi woman Olivia Clark, there's an element of pride that comes with representing her culture on court.
And that's a feeling she cannot wait to get back.
The goaler has been selected in Australia’s inaugural First Nations invitational team, adding to her decorated list of achievements, including representing the ACT at the National Netball Championships, the Capital Darters at the Australian Netball Championships and NSW Premier League club South West Mounties MAGIC.
She now has her sights set on the Pacific Netball Series in June.
Clark will meet with her First Nations teammates in Brisbane where they will compete against a range of different nations, including from the Pacific and Africa.
It's certainly not the first time the slick goaler has represented her culture on court. She was also part of the NSW First Nations All Stars team... an experience she will never forget.
“I remember the first year that we did the NSW First Nations All Stars team we were all excited to get out there. We weren't worried about the outcome we just wanted to show what we could do as a team,” she said.
Clark has represented her culture once before in netball.The 22-year-old is ecstatic about the opportunity to represent her culture on the international stage.
“I'm really excited about this because I was also part of the inaugural NSW First Nations All Stars team and to see that grow to a national level,” she said.
Despite sustaining a broken finger and not having the ideal preparation, Clark promises she is ready to go and is hoping to experience that feeling of pride when she steps onto the netball court, once again.
“The team has girls from all around the country it's so exciting to be able to come all together and show what we can do as First Nations athletes,” she said.
“I'm looking forward to meeting all the girls in person and going out there and playing against teams that have played in the World Cup which pushes us to learn more about the game.”
For Clark, her journey started in a similar way to many budding netballers. She earned her stripes in the Woolworths NetSetGO program then played at Arawang Netball Association before moving to Queanbeyan where she first played representative netball, before making her way through the ACT pathway representing the Capital Spirit and Capital Darters.
“I didn't really think about how far I could go and to make it this far I'm very proud of and I know my family are too, they're all coming up to watch (the Pacific Netball Series),” she said.
A trailblazer in the sport, Clark has advocated for First Nations representation throughout her burgeoning career.
While playing for Queanbeyan Netball Association, Clark and close friend Thalia Uilelea, designed the association’s first Indigenous uniforms in 2021.
Clark was thrilled to see her design worn proudly at the association.
“Being able to see it come to life was amazing, it’s a bit hard to put into exact words but we were both proud to be able to share it and tell the story that we did on the dress,” she said.
“Everyone found a way to connect it to their own story and seeing how excited they were to wear the dress felt good.”
Clark has been a firm fixture in the pathways.After designing the Queanbeyan dress, Clark also joined forces with Uilelea again and teammate Scarlett Kris to design a dress for the Capital Spirit.
“On the back of our Capital Spirit dress we had all of our individual totems. There was three of us, First Nations athletes in the squad at the time so three totems to connect us and our families,” she said.
“It was really special for all of us to be able to have our families on the dress to represent them proudly.
“Then on the front of the dress we had a meeting circle with six different areas all coming together and that represented all the six districts that play in the ACT netball competition.”
Clark also expressed the importance of having support around her noting Capital Darters head coach Kate Carpenter gave her the opportunity to share her culture with her teammates.
“The first year it was a sit-down session and we let everyone ask questions and I told my story,” she said.
“Over the years it's grown from that and we’ve now learned how to do a Ngunnawal Acknowledgement of Country in language.”
The goaler also acknowledged the First Nations athletes that have paved the way for her from the likes of current SSN athletes Donnell Wallam, Leesa Mi Mi and Remi Kamo to those who created the path for them like Sharon Finnan-White OAM and Marcia Ella-Duncan OAM.
“They are inspiring, seeing how they're very proud of their culture, they don't shy away from it,” she said.
“They're very loud and proud and will always represent the culture that way."
The Pacific Netball Series will take place at Nissan Arena between June 10-15.
