STAR Gisborne recruit Claudia Mawson has a near-insatiable appetite for netball.
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And that is what made a year without the sport she excels in due to COVID in 2020 and a heavily interrupted one in 2021 so frustrating and hard to navigate.
But the 20-year-old, who originally hails from Echuca, will certainly get her netball fix over the next few months.
First-up is this week's start to the Victorian Netball League season with Melbourne University Lightning, to be followed by next month's BFNL opener for her new club Gisborne against Sandhurst.
And then there's the crowning achievement, her selection in the Melbourne Vixens Academy.
Mawson is one of 20 prodigiously talented netballers from across the state to be selected in the high-performance program.
Its main purpose is to develop and extend the pool of athletes within the high-performance pathway and provide exposure to the Vixens' Super Netball program.
Players have been given the opportunity to train alongside the Vixens and gain a glimpse into the elite environment.
An eventual 10 players will be selected to represent Victorian Fury in the Australian Netball League season, with Mawson hoping to retain her spot from last year, despite the competition never going ahead.
The Academy has had its success stories, with past graduate Rahni Samasan getting a Vixens call-up last season and making the most of the opportunity to earn a full-time contract in 2022.
Mawson is excited to be involved.
"We've had two sessions so far and there's six or seven to go," she said.
"It's a good lead in to Victorian Fury selections.
"It's going to be a big year of netball, with everything that is going on. It's making up for the past two years of not much, so I'm stacking it all in.
"It balances out though, it's not all at once and hopefully I can get some uni done in between."
In terms of her netball, Mawson, who is studying science - majoring in psychology - at Melbourne University, could only describe the stop-start nature of the past two seasons and the total absence of competitive play in 2020 as frustrating and challenging.
"I got quite restless. We were able to train in little bits and pieces, but not being able to work towards any certain goal or game was quite difficult mentally and frustrating," she said.
"Hopefully this year, touch wood, we get to go all the way and have a solid VNL season at Melbourne Uni and also at Gisborne.
"Even the first two years studying, it's been pretty much all remote. Coming onto campus at the moment is still a bit of a novelty, but exciting. I'm soaking it up and appreciating it."
We were able to train in little bits and pieces, but not being able to work towards any certain goal or game was quite difficult mentally and frustrating.
- Claudia Mawson
An expected to be strong Lightning kick off their VNL season tonight (Wednesday) against Boroondara Express, with Mawson joined in the line-up by her new Gisborne team-mate and 2018 Betty Thompson medallist Maddy Stewart.
The star goal attack, who last played country league netball with Echuca in the Goulburn Valley league in 2019, could not be happier to have found a new home with the Bulldogs.
"It's been very smooth, the girls have been really welcoming and I have enjoyed it a lot so far," she said.
"(Coach) Tarryn (Rymer) has been so good and supportive and understanding considering there is a bit of an overlap with some of my training.
"Sometimes when it doesn't quite fit, she is very understanding.
"And Maddy Stewart, who is at Melbourne Uni Lightning with me, has made it easy for me going to a new team.
"I'm originally from Echuca, so playing in Bendigo and Gisborne is great as I can get home a bit more too, so I don't mind coming up from Melbourne.
"They have a great culture at Gisborne."
Mawson expects to relish being involved in one of Victoria's undoubted top netball competitions and is embracing some unusual but once familiar challenges back at grassroots level.
"We've had a couple of practice matches so far, one of them was in the rain, which was a bit of a shock to the system," she laughed.
"I've been used to playing inside (in the VNL) for a couple of years now and I was like wow, I'm back to the country.
"But it felt great building some connections with the local girls - I'm sure we'll be strong."
READ MORE: Gisborne lures star young goal attack
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