Dakota Thomas has taken another important step towards her dream of playing Super Netball with selection in the Swifts Academy team for the Australian Netball Championships (ANC) in Victoria next month.
Now, the Kilaben Bay 21-year-old plans to make the most of the opportunity with whatever court time comes her way.
Thomas was part of a 12-player Swifts Academy side named on Monday. The team also included Teigan O'Shannassy, Sophie Fawns and Lili Gorman-Brown, who all made their NSW Swifts debuts in Super Netball this year.
The selection came after Thomas had earned a training partner contract with Australia's most decorated club for this year.
"All of the work that I have been doing as a training partner has kind of led me to my goals to try to get into this team and I'm so glad I've secured that spot," Thomas told the Newcastle Herald.
"It means that I'm chipping away slowly. Now, hopefully I play well and might be able to get noticed and put my name out there in the netball world for the coming years."
The ANC will be contested by 10 teams at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium in Traralgon between August 22 and 28 and replaces the former Australian Netball League to provide a key transition pathway for athletes to Super Netball.
It will be the first of its kind after being postponed in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Alongside the Swifts Academy, which underpins the NSW Swifts, other confirmed teams to compete in the championships include Collingwood Magpies, Tasmania, Capital Darters, Queensland Sapphires, Victorian Fury, Giants Academy, West Coast Fever Reserves, Sunshine Coast Lightning and Southern Force.
Thomas previously played a season with the NSW Waratahs in the 2019 Australian Netball League.
"The idea of even being able to travel interstate to play netball seems like it was a foreign thing for such a long time, so I'm just excited to play," Thomas said.
"I'll most likely be playing a few of the defensive positions so a big thing for me is just being able to work super well with the other girls in my unit.
"I'm excited to see what we can do and also what I can do at a competition like this because it's been so long since we've done something like this."
The athletic defender, who plays for Central Coast Heart in NSW Premier League, relocated to Sydney this year and put her university studies on hold to take up the Swifts training partner position and performances on the national stage next month could help secure another contract.
"Just being recognised as a training partner gave me a lot of confidence personally," Thomas said.
"That's something I try to take into training and games. I've become so much fitter and stronger in my games and I think it's changed how I play in such a good way."
Also in the Swifts Academy side headed to the ANC are other Swifts training partners Audrey Little, Chelsea Mann and Laura Towell plus Academy athletes Ali Miller, Brooke Patterson, Charlotte Raleigh, Jess Conlan, and Lauren Woods.
Meanwhile, Newcastle championship netball sides face another double-header at National Park courts this weekend as they look to catch up after a string of washed-out rounds.
