KRISTEN & LINDY

By Linda Pearce

Near the end of a busy Saturday spread across Canberra’s two main competition venues, Kristen Eade and Lindy Fritsche pull on the navy and white dress of the Inner North Netball Club’s division six Wildcats team, and do something that is a) setting an example for their daughters and b) just for fun.

And, by then, almost seven hours after it started, their long day’s work for others is finally done.

Eade, 40, will have delivered her two oldest girls to their 8.30am umpiring duties and, an hour later, coached the first of three games. She will have dashed home in the early afternoon to get changed, and found time for a quick sandwich at best and a muesli bar at worst. 

The only thing she will not have done is to sit on the couch with a cuppa, for fear she may not get back up.

Fritsche will have been at Charnwood by 8am, as her eldest child Claire coaches a junior team in the earliest time slot. She will also, if all has gone well in advance and there are no late hiccups. have organised the 33 umpires needed for the INNC’s 33 teams, dealt with drop-outs for injury and other reasons and wondered, perhaps, at some stage how she ended up sitting in the umpires’ convenor chair when the short straws were being handed out.

Actually, those are our words, but she laughs at the suggestion. 

“I don’t know!’’ says Fritsche. “This is my second year. I said ‘I’ll do it for two years and then I’ll think about something else’, and at the last committee meeting something came up about ‘oh, well, we’ll get someone to assist you next year’.

“And I went ‘sorry? Next year?’. But if no-one volunteers, I’ll do it. It’s that ‘before you complain, have you volunteered’ (philosophy). And I love being involved in the club.’’

Which is a good thing, because the ACT Health epidemiologist estimates that netball takes up to 20 hours of her busy week. Indeed, she sent a photo to a friend recently with her home laptop labelled “unpaid”, next to her two open work screens designated for “paid work”. 

As to which gives her more pleasure, Fritsche says she cherishes her career, but also enjoys organising the umpires. When everything goes to plan, anyway. Tasmanian born-and-raised, the 50-year-old was a hockey player in her youth but became involved with netball when Claire, now almost 14, started NetSetGO in Year One of primary school. 

“We sort of all got caught up in netball after that,'' she says. "I love it. I love the club. I love the community. The friendship. The camaraderie. Yeah, it’s been great.’’

Playing? That’s been a more recent development, starting four years ago, then continuing when Fritsche moved to the newly-formed Wildcats in 2021.

“I took it up because I wanted to be a good role model for my daughters,’’ she says. “Everyone else in my team has played netball for years, so they all know what they’re doing. I just joke that I make up the numbers, but it’s fun.’’

Position? “I’ve been playing goal keeper - they have a bit of a giggle that I use my bum!’’ (Author's note: whatever you have that works sounds fine to us.) So, how to describe herself as a netballer? “Average! No, ah … tries hard. Keen.’’

At home, even husband Kim has joined the in-house Fritsche netball club - the rugby union and soccer fan now watching more Suncorp Super Netball on TV than anything else. He took Claire to the Diamonds’ most recent international fixture in Canberra, against South Africa in 2017, and happily sits around the dinner table in his otherwise-all-female household discussing who’s in form and out.

He also supports on Saturdays, sometimes - his kids, not his wife, Mrs Fritsche points out, chuckling. “With our Wildcats team, our daughters generally sit on the side and yell ‘get in front Mum’, and our teenagers occasionally get to play when we’ve had enough.’’

That includes the elder two of the four Eade girls; mum Kristen a graduate of the bigger and quite different NSW system, who is coaching not just her own daughters but one of Fritsche’s, and keen to pass on what she has learned. For as much as it gives, the family also receives.

“We love it for the fact that the girls have got friends outside of school, they’ve made good friendships within the club, plus the rep program as well. It’s something that they love - as we speak, my girls are out the back shooting. 

"So any chance they get, they live and breathe netball. They just love the spirit and the encouragement. It doesn’t have to be me on the sideline cheering them on. It’s all the parents.

“For me, I’m loving the fact that it’s social; you’re with other adults and we all have the same interest: we play to actually show our daughters, as well, that any ability or age can play the sport. Anyone can be involved.''

Opponents include an all-abilities team. "That was just absolutely beautiful. They were so into the game and loved it. They had people on the court helping and directing, and my team got involved helping them as well. It just showed the inclusiveness of the sport.’’

Having started at Sydney's Liverpool and District Netball Association as an 11-year-old, Eade only resumed competition again this year after an extended time-out, with the mother-of-six also pleased that one of her 19-year-old twin boys - Samuel - has become involved recently in both an umpiring role and as a Queanbeyan State League player.

After moving to Canberra about 15 years ago, Kristen said repeatedly that she wanted to get back on court herself, but there never seemed to be the time. “Then this year I thought ‘nuh, I’m doing it!’ And I’m actually enjoying it. I’m in a team with people similar to me - we’re mums, the majority of our kids play the sport, and win or lose we don’t care. I’m glad I went back.’’

At the suggestion that most of the Wildcats’ fittest days are behind them, Eade replies: “That’s for sure! But the best part about playing is that occasionally my two oldest daughters are part of the team, so we get to play together.’’

A family element that Fritsche also appreciates adds to the three F's of friendship, fitness and fun. "Mind you,'' she adds, "it’s damn cold here in Canberra.''

The weather? Netball rarely shies away from a challenge. But we might get back to you on that one.