General News
26 July, 2024
Retirement waits - milestone game for Kristen
GO FIND your dress - That was the order from Boort C Grade netball coach Brooke Arnold to Kristen Gooding before the start of this North Central netball season. Kristen, after more than 30 years playing for the Magpies, had decided to retire. “I...
GO FIND your dress - That was the order from Boort C Grade netball coach Brooke Arnold to Kristen Gooding before the start of this North Central netball season.
Kristen, after more than 30 years playing for the Magpies, had decided to retire.
“I thought I had burned it,” she said of the netball outfit. But she dug it out, signed up for another year, and now sees herself on the cusp of playing her 500th club game. The milestone was in doubt mid-week after last Saturday’s abandonment of the Wycheproof Narraport game due to a non-compliant court threatening to rain on her parade.
The league’s decision to allow a forfeit means Kristen’s now sits on 499 games and ready to plays her big game on her home court this Saturday.Last season Kristen played with her daughter Tayla, 18, in the C Grade competition. This year, she’s again with Tayla.
And when it comes to new retirement plans, Kristen faces another hurdle.
“I’ve got a 13-year-old, Indi, and she wants to play with me, so I have to play next year.
“I’ve also got a five-year-old, but I definitely won’t be playing with her.”
Kristen has played for Boort since she was “nine or 10 in the under 13s” and now at 42 still runs hard in midcourt.
She had time off to have four children and didn’t play for a while in her early 30s “to focus on other things”.
Most importantly, she reckons she has bragging rights over her footballer husband Nathan, who retired at the end of last season after playing 400 games for the Magpies