By Matt Fotia
At just 22, Arabana woman Courtney Summers had already been through a lot.
The tenacious netball lover had battled with mental health struggles since she was 13 and had come out the other side with the tools required to combat whatever was thrown her way as she chased her dream of being a professional netballer.
So, when she suffered a season-ending ACL injury in 2022, she knew exactly what she didn’t want to happen.
“My initial though was just devastation,” Summers said.
“Being an athlete and playing sport was a part of my identity and I didn’t know what my life was going to look like without having netball.
“I’d battled with mental health issues in the past and I didn’t want to go down that dark path again.
“Even though I wouldn’t be playing netball that year, I would have so much more time to focus on other aspects of my life as well and thought about what I could be doing for other athletes feeling the same way as me.”
Summers grew up in Alice Springs and for much of her early life was uneducated on her family’s rich history, with information lost across the generations.
Motivated to find out more about who she was, Summers did her own research and found a connection with one of the Alice Springs community’s central pioneers, Topsy Smith.
“One of the biggest discoveries I made was my great-great grandmother Topsy Smith,” Summers explained.
“When I was at school, I was in the house Topsy Smith and for so many years I didn’t realise I was related to her.”
Smith is most famous for her work at The Bungalow, an institution and school for Indigenous children in the early 1900s.
“She had such an amazing impact on the Alice Springs community,” Summers said.
“As a central pioneer of Alice Springs, she started the bungalow, a place for young Aboriginal and mixed descent children to come to when they didn’t have their family.
“They provided education, shelter, and support for these young kids to be able to have a strong upbringing.
“Learning about her was so important to me and hopefully I can keep her legacy going through my life as well.”
Summers fell in love with the game of netball instantaneously, following a dalliance with Basketball, and the game fell in love with her too, as she jumped straight into the top end’s high-performance pathway.
“I originally started off with basketball, played a couple of years of basketball and then moved over to netball when I was about 11 years old and instantly fell in love with it,” Summers said.
“I’ve always loved team sports and everything that comes with it.
“When I first started playing netball, I got into the Northern Territory High Performance program in the Under 11’s and every year I was able to go away, travel around Australia and compete the best netballers in the country.
“Netball has made me who I am today.”
Summers has been a part of the NT's High Performance program since age 11.In her late teens Summers decided to move to Adelaide, with an eye to progressing her netballing career and discovered professional sporting dreams aren’t handed out on a silver platter.
“When I moved to Adelaide, I realised how much harder I had to work to make my dream come true,” Summers stated.
“Over the years I’ve realised there is so much more than just being in the elite pathway.
“Sport can bring so many other opportunities and benefits to my life.
“Ultimately I will always want to play at the best level I can, but my main goal is to hopefully inspire other young athletes, especially in the Aboriginal community, to take those opportunities, take those leaps and take full advantage of it whenever you can.”
Lying in her hospital bed post ACL surgery Summers decided to make good on that promise.
In the days following her surgery she began creating and launching her business, Sumtimessad, a brand that aims to celebrate vulnerability and to remind all of us that mental health struggles are a commonality.
“The name comes from how I was feeling in that moment,” Summers explained.
“I felt sad, I felt defeated, but then I realised that was just a moment of my day and those emotions and feelings do pass.
“It’s about what you take from these challenges and not letting them define who you are.
“I’m grateful for all the challenges I’ve been through in my life and hopefully I can help other people who might be feeling the same way.”
Summers, and her partner, have moved back to Alice Springs as she looks to engage the community with her brands mantra and begin work with local schools and sporting organisations.
“I love the Alice Springs community so much, and there is so many young people here who need the sumtimessad message,” Summers said.
“My biggest goal is to start getting into some sporting clubs, into schools and work with young aspiring youth to help them navigate the good days and the bad.”
Sumtimessad was born during Summers' recovery from an ACL injury.Netball, though, is still a constant fixture in the now 24-year-olds life. Her next challenge will be lining up as part of the Territory Storm’s goal circle at the 2024 Australian Netball Championships.
Summers says the importance of tournaments like the ANC’s cannot be understated for her and her Storm teammates.
“In the Northern Territory we are limited in terms of the competitions we get to travel for,” Summers explained.
“Having the ANC’s really pushes us to the best of our ability. Every time we go away as a group, we come back so much stronger.
“We’ve got a really strong team going to Canberra and I’m excited to see what we can do.”
Summers’ on court focus has shifted since her ACL injury and the launch of sumtimessad, but her love for netball is stronger than ever.
“I’m much more aware of my teammates,” Summers said.
“I’m more focused on making sure everyone is at their full potential and making the most of the opportunities right in front of us.
“I love netball more now I’m focused on being able to empower my teammates.”
