By Tanya Steele
The Belgrave FNC celebrated a massive milestone with netball sensation Donna Gray – describing her as a ‘household name’ since 2011.
Donna is the first woman to play 300 games for the league, making her the first woman eligible for a League Life Membership, which is an amazing accomplishment.
The longtime Belgrave player celebrated over the weekend and also had her good friend Alex Gawley celebrate her 200th game.
Both players are lifelong members of the club and the Facebook page for Belgrave FNC said that on behalf everyone at the club, we congratulate Donna on this massive achievement.
“Her commitment to the club is unwavering, she’s here most Saturday mornings with the family cleaning up the netball courts, or putting her hand up to help out with things around the club, amongst many other things over the years,” the post read.
Donna enjoyed the milestone, running through the banner with Alex and celebrating after the game.
“I celebrated with my friend and the team gave us a gift as well, it was lovely,” she said.
“I’ve played 100 games with the Upwey team and 200 with Begrave and I started playing for the league in 2005.”
Donna began playing netball in Upwey-Tecoma in 2005 and recalls the clubs beginning their teams from scratch.
“It was the first season that the league had netball, and all the clubs had the chance to build their own teams, we had to decide on uniforms, find a venue and umpires, all of that,” she said.
“Fortunately Upwey-Tecoma were able to get a team up and running and we were quite successful and won the premiership that year,” she said.
Donna played with Upwey-Tecoma FNC for six seasons and then moved across to Belgrave FNC to play with a friend Kara Salmon
“We went across and began coaching for Belgrave that season in 2012,” she said
It was a big choice to switch clubs with Donna having long standing family connections supporting her brothers playing football in Upwey-Tecoma
“I’d been at Upwey since I was much younger but there was a bit of motivation, my husband played football at Belgrave,” she said.
Donna said she remains quite friendly with both clubs and knows many players across the teams, she continues to play in the centre position along with wing attack and wing defence.
The move to Belgrave FNC brought friendships, connections and two premierships in 2014 and 2017.
“I’ve made a lot of lifelong friends,” Donna said.
Donna’s kids come down to the courts every week, having also made friends in the community.
“I like the committed time every week we spend doing something we love,” she said.
Donna has no plans to stop playing anytime soon and will be on the court through the season rain, hail or shine from April onwards.
“Find something you enjoy and it won’t feel like a chore,” she said.
