Scholz forging her own path

By Stephanie Smarrelli 

For mother-daughter duo, Peta Squire and Poppy Scholz, netball has always been an intrinsic part of life. 

Peta has a long, and impressive, playing history in the sport. She is Adelaide Thunderbirds alumni and Origin Diamond #123. 

So it's no wonder South Australian product Poppy is eager to follow in her mum's stride. 

“I wanted to be like mum,” she said. 

“I started playing quite young...then I stopped for a little bit but found my way back to it with thanks to mum.” 

Peta dominated the netball courts in the 1990s and 2000s. The midcourter was part of Australia's 1999 World Cup champion team and holds a gold medal from the 2002 Commonwealth Games. 

Peta also won back-to-back Commonwealth Bank Trophy premierships with the Adelaide Thunderbirds in 1998 and 1999 where she remained until retiring in 2007. 

She then returned for a two-season stint with the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic in 2010. 

Poppy, like her mother Peta, is a wing defence by trade, but she also enjoys playing in goal defence and is currently developing her craft in the centre bib as well. 

The biggest compliment the teenager has received is from people saying that she reminds them of her mother on the court. 

“I really appreciate mum's talent, a lot of people say to me that I play like her which is really nice because she was a pretty good player,” she said. 

 Poppy is looking forward to forging her own path and writing her own story, but still has similar goals and dreams to her mum.

 ''To play for the Thunderbirds would be pretty cool and to play for the Diamond is everyone's goal,” she said. 

Although the midcourter touched on how important it is for her to do things at her own pace and not get too caught up comparing herself to her mum.  

“I want to do things in my own time and not think about how mum played for Thunderbirds when she was this age.  I need to not compare myself to her in that way,” she said. 

Looking back at her mum's career, Poppy admits her mum hasn't told her many stories about her time as one of the world's best. 

“She's pretty humble about her netball playing, I always try to get stories and details out of her to find out what happened, but she hasn't talked about much of it which is quite bizarre because she was pretty good,” she said. 

Poppy's mum is still a huge part of her journey and she is lucky enough to have her mum as one of her coaches. 

“I had her as my coach a lot while I was a junior player, it's good that she's still there now in seniors. It's an extra level up but I enjoy it and have a lot of respect for her, obviously as my mum but also as a coach," she said. 

Growing up Poppy recalls her mum always giving her advice on how to improve her game. 

“When I didn't have my license, she would drive me to and from my games. There was a lot of debriefing in the car,” Poppy said. 

The teenager recently competed at the National Netball Championship (NNCs) as part of South Australia's 19U team and was named in the 2024 Australian pathways 19U squad as well as the 2024 Thunderbirds Futures squad. 

When asked about role models, other than her mother, Poppy identified Thunderbirds captain Hannah Petty as someone she looks up to. 

“I like Hannah Petty, she's a very good player and I got an opportunity to train with them [the Thunderbirds] a few weeks ago,” she said. 

“Training with the Thunderbirds was cool, the training is next level and the way they hold themselves accountable. I hope to be able to get to that one day.”