THE story of the Dreamstars junior netball team is a true sporting fairy-tale, complete with tragedy and triumph, but with a happy ending every week, regardless of the score.
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All but one of the girls who play in the 17-under competition at Golden City Netball Association were born in Karen refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border and have endured more hardship than most of their playing opponents could ever imagine.
But since taking up the sport five years ago, these talented athletes have claimed a winter premiership, finished runner-up in summer twilight competition, and won a host of admirers.
“The results don’t even matter,” says coach Christine Perry, a teacher who has mentored the girls since they joined forces on the netball court in grade four at Lightning Reef Primary.
“Winning is a bonus, but we just play to have a good time.”
When the girls arrived in Bendigo in 2009, they spoke little or no English and had hardly even been to school, let alone played netball in a formal competition.
Many had left family members behind in the camps, including one youngster whose dad was so sick he could not get a visa and was unlikely to ever be able to join her here in Australia.
“Most adults wouldn’t have had anything like the experiences these girls have had,” says Christine. “They’ve lived through war, starvation, deprivation, heartaches and tragedies we could never dream of, and their experiences would be far too dark for most local kids to understand.”
Four of the girls – Hser Mu, Paw Bleh, Par Eh Doh and Hay Ler – initially played soccer for a year but turned up at netball training one night after their team folded.
“They came to see what netball was – they didn’t know anything about it and hadn’t even seen it played,” says Christine, who took them under her wing.
“They didn’t have a lot of English between them and had to learn everything visually by watching the drills two or three times before joining in.
“These girls are gifted visual learners – I think it comes from being in refugee camps where, if you don’t pay enough attention to what’s going on around you, bad things can happen.”
Christine recalls that her team did not win a game or shoot a single goal in their first season.
“They were great little players and got a lot of the ball, but didn’t really know what to do with it, so we were pretty terrible,” she laughs. “You could understand if they didn’t want to come back, but they turned up every week, even when things weren’t going so well.
“They didn’t miss a training session or match, except when they had cultural or spiritual activities they had to attend, as all the girls sing or dance at their cultural festivals.”
They’ve lived through war, starvation, deprivation, heartaches and tragedies we could never dream of.
- Coach Christine Perry
By their second winter season, the girls became competitive and celebrated their first win. They went on to finish third in the summer twilight league.
In 2013, the Lightning Reef girls surprised everyone, themselves included, by winning the winter premiership in their division – turning up to play the grand final straight from a festival in colourful dance costumes, with elaborate hairstyles and full make-up.
“They looked like they were going to a wedding, not a netball final,” says Christine.
“They arrived pulling on their netball uniforms, ran out and played, then rushed back to the venue to continue their activities.
“They were the first team from our school ever to win a netball grand final. It was a brilliant way for them to end their primary netball because they had come from absolutely nothing.”
Though blessed with natural athleticism, the Karen kids have struggled at times to make it out on to the court.
They often rely on Christine and her family to help transport them to and from games; donors have chipped in to help with fees and equipment; and country league netball teams have provided hand-me-down uniforms.
But after wearing second-hand dresses provided by Murrabit and more recently Wedderburn, the Dreamstars have received a Netball Victoria grant that will soon see them step out in brand new, custom-designed uniforms.
They are due to arrive any day.
“These girls are so committed and that is why we were given money for new uniforms,” Christine says. “They are very deserving children. We are not a club, we don’t have a lot of money, and we rely on people in the community helping us out.
“I have given them experiences they may not otherwise have had, but their drive, determination and ability to learn from seeing things around them has made them successful.
“And they are always happy. You will often see the girls out there laughing, or apologising if they contact someone.
“I have never seen any of them question an umpire with so much as an eye roll – it is such a delight to be associated with them because they are everything a sportsperson should be.”
As testament to just how far some of the girls have come, sisters Par Eh Doh and Hay Ler ended up becoming school captains during their time at Lightning Reef after writing moving speeches about how they’d been welcomed into the community and wanted to be leaders so they could give back.
Last year, the Karen netball girls faced another major sporting challenge.
With a mix of grade six and year seven girls, they started strongly but were regraded into the 14-under division one competition and ended up being completely outsized and outclassed.
“It was a bit of a disaster,” says Christine. “We lost one game 91-3, which was an association record for the greatest losing margin.”
But they rebounded in the summer twilight competition and ended 2014 with runners-up trophies for their division.
Christine paid tribute to the Golden City association, Netball Victoria and the Melbourne Vixens for their support of the Bendigo-based Karen players.
The girls’ efforts have been acknowledged by the state’s governing body for netball, which featured them in an online story about cultural diversity for Harmony Day last month.
Vixens stars Geva Mentor and Kate Moloney also visited in November to host a skills clinic.
“The girls were totally overwhelmed by the experience, but by the very next game they were putting into practise everything they had learned,” Christine says.
There have been minor misunderstandings along the journey, usually due to the language barrier – like the time an umpire thought the girls were ignoring her, or when an opposition team felt a little intimidated that they were speaking in their native tongue.
But it’s nothing that a quick explanation can’t fix.
“When you think about it,” says Christine, “if a team of girls from Bendigo went to Japan to play a game of netball, they wouldn’t speak in Japanese.
“This is no different. On the court, it is often easier for my girls to talk in their own language.”
Christine, 56, is in charge of three Dreamstars teams this year, including the core group of 17-under girls who started the Karen ball rolling.
There’s also a 14-under side that includes one Karen player and an open side with some of the parents and friends.
No Karen mums have taken up the challenge as yet, but they are warming to the sport despite long-standing cultural traditions that place women and girls as the home-makers.
“A couple of the mums have started coming to training and to watch some matches. Netball is totally foreign to them, but they are starting to come along and support the girls with their presence, as well as supporting them by allowing them to play.
“These girls have been an inspiration from the day they first joined and I feel lucky to be involved with them,” Christine adds. “I love netball… and I really love my girls.”