BRIDGEWATER star junior Rachael Flood has been chosen for the elite Netball Victoria Talent Academy.
It is the latest in a string of remarkable achievements for the 15-year-old, highlighting her rapid rise in netball ranks.
She began playing as a “mini” before quickly moving through the grades, with her commitments growing year on year.
“There’s been a lot of dedication to the sport,” she told the Loddon Herald from Traralgon, where she was playing in a school cricket T20 carnival.
“You have to give your best at training and take on good advice.”
Rachael won the 17 and Under award for best-and-fairest in the Loddon Valley league this season, during which she also made her senior A Grade debut for the Mean Machine while still eligible for the 15 and Under team. “I played a couple of senior games. Gave it a shot,” she said laconically.
In 2023 she was runner-up in the league 15 and Under best and fairest, and this year she won Most Valuable Player honours for the Loddon Valley 15 and Under representative team in the annual competition in Bendigo against the North Central and Heathcote leagues.  
This season Rachael also won Bridgewater’s 17 and Under best and was part of a Friday night under-17 development team at Golden Square which went on to play in a grand final. 
She has won representative honours from 13 and Under level, and the future seems extremely bright for the talented youngster, but she says only, “Hopefully I go a long way.”
At 185cm (six feet one in the old measure) Rachael towers above most of her contemporaries.
Her father is 190cm, and an older brother is 195cm, so she is likely to grow even taller given she only turned 15 in July, although Rachael isn’t so sure: “I think I might have reached my limit.” She plays as goal keeper or goal defence, which is her preference, although at times she has been swung forward as goal attack.
Rachael is one of just 24 players named in the Northern region academy, which will play against other regions in August next year in matches to select participants for Victorian state team trials.
The Netball Victoria academy, for players aged 14-16, aims to develop the next generation of state and national representatives through three key components: technical and tactical development, athlete well-being and physical preparation.