Reunited: Angela Bacon, Kate McMahon, Sharelle McMahon, Ros Thomas and Narelle Bacon reminisce on their 1993 A-grade premiership with the Cats. Sarah Tointon, Georgie Betts and Marg Davies were also part of the premiership side, but were unable to attend. Photo: Alexander Dabb
One of the region’s most prominent sporting exports was back in town on Saturday, as Sharelle McMahon gathered with former teammates to celebrate LBU’s 1993 A-grade netball premiership.
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A Cat through and through, a return to Lockington Recreation Reserve brought the memories flooding back for the Sport Australia Hall of Fame member.
"(I have) so many amazing memories from this place in particular, we spent so much time here,” McMahon said.
“My childhood memories really sit around sport in this community, I always loved it, and I think we were really lucky with the incredible support we had for sport here.”
Before winning Commonwealth Games gold medals and captaining the Diamonds, McMahon was starring for LBU, being named in the best in the ’93 premiership win over Koondrook.
“There's a few of us here from the team, not everyone unfortunately,” McMahon said.
“We've just been reminiscing about some of the things that happened with our time together, so it was great.”
One of those teammates present at the reunion was Sharelle’s sister, Kate, with the two reflecting on their time together in the junior ranks.
“Kate and I played a lot of our junior netball together,” McMahon said.
“We used to spend hours in the backyard practising our moves together. We were talking just now about how fit we were as a team, because we had a couple of the boys helping us out with our fitness, Tim Fulton and ‘Small’ MacIntyre.
“We were running suicides and doing all sorts of things, so we were fit and we were really well connected, and a group that just loved playing together."
That feeling of being connected as a team, born through growing up in a small country community, is something that stuck with McMahon right through her glittering career, which included 118 international caps.
"I think for me that sense of connectedness that you have within a team and how important that is,” McMahon said when asked if there was anything imparted upon her at LBU.
“That was a big feature of this team that we had. We had fun together, but when it was time to work hard, that's what we did, even though we were freezing in the indoor centre in Bamawm.
Premiers: Sharelle McMahon (back row, second from left) with her premiership teammates after winning the 1993 A-grade Northern and Echuca League grand final.
“We were running laps in there when it was too cold out here, but that was part of it, being able to work hard when it was time, but just having fun and feeling really connected as a group."
The hard work that started in that indoor centre in Bamawm eventually led McMahon to achieve it all on the global stage, with those achievements earlier this year immortalised at the unveiling of a statue in Melbourne.
“I'm very proud, and through that, I've tried to take some time to acknowledge that as an individual,” McMahon said of the honour.
“But for me, it's much bigger than that, this is the first time a netballer in Victoria has been recognised in that way.
“For women in sport, I think there is an imbalance of the way we're shown, whether that's in the media or through things like statues, or lots of different things.
“So, I think it's a broader discussion around how great it is for female athletes and women who are doing well, in whatever that they do, being recognised."
Having been involved in coaching roles in both the Victorian and Australian netball setups after her retirement, McMahon has since transitioned to a new sport altogether.
“It's nearly two years actually that I've been in cricket,” McMahon said.
“In that sport, there really is the opportunities for women and girls that are playing there, which is just really growing, which is fantastic.”
As Head of Female Cricket at Cricket Victoria, McMahon oversees not only the performance pathway for elite cricketers, but also engagement at school age, something she is particularly passionate about, having grown up in a sporting community.
“I think being involved in a different sport other than netball has been a really big learning curve and a big eye-opener,” she said.
“But for me, it's always been about how can we really encourage women and girls to play sport and being engaged and connected with sport in one way or another.
“I learnt here in this community how important that is, and that's important in any community."
