Jemma’s setting shining example
Indigenous star trying to inspire just like Freeman
JEMMA Mi Mi admits it’s been tough at times shouldering the load as the only Indigenous player in Super Netball.
But as Australia celebrates the 20th anniversary of Cathy Freeman’s famous Sydney Olympics win, the Queensland Firebirds player has revealed she was at peace with being a role model and hopes she can be the type of inspiration for another young girl that Freeman was for her.
Mi Mi was just four years old when Freeman won gold on that famous September night in 2000 and does not have any memory of the event itself. But Freeman was an inspiration regardless.
“Just having someone who looked like me, someone with the same colour skin as me doing amazing things and being shown in the media, I think that’s really important to have,” Mi Mi said. “I hope that I can be that person to young Indigenous peoples.
“This is my fourth season at Suncorp Super Netball level and I’ve learnt how to embrace that extra pressure or extra weight on my shoulders.
“I’ve learnt how to take it in my stride to be that role model for young Indigenous girls coming through the netball pathways.”
Heading into Super Netball’s Indigenous Round this weekend in Cairns, Mi Mi wants to see change at the top level of the sport.
Just two Indigenous players have represented Australia, and the last, Sharon FinnanWhite, played her final Test 20 years ago.
The pathway is not always smooth either, as former Firebirds player Beryl Friday revealed earlier this year when she discussed the institutionalised racism she felt during her time at the elite level of the game, with Netball Australia acknowledging they needed to do better to “make a long-term commitment to change”.
“I thought it was really brave of Beryl to share her story, and I learnt a lot as well,” longtime friend Mi Mi said.
“I’ve experienced really different things within the Firebirds environment and Netball Queensland environment, so I guess in that way, Netball Queensland and the Firebirds have grown to be more inclusive. We’ve got the Diamond Spirit program on-board now which I don’t think was there when Beryl was in the program.
“But it definitely shone a light on what we can do better and that we’ve still got a long way to go. I’d love to see more Indigenous girls playing at the elite level.”
And she is not willing to just wait around for it to happen, working with Netball Queensland on a community engagement program to help make this happen.
To be the face of the program, Mi Mi delved deeper into her own background in what she described as a winwin situation.
“For me to really connect with the Indigenous girls in the program, I was encouraged to dive deeper into my own family background … it’s been really important this year around the Black Lives Matter movement and Free the Flag as well, so there’s a space there where they can express how they’re feeling and know they’re going to be supported,” she said.