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20
Oct 19A sporting refuge
I didn’t know the meaning of the word “queen” in the way I now do but in my own teenage world of sporting prowess I thought I deserved a crown.
I ran, jumped, hit, pitched and threw on tracks, courts and fields. There was nothing I didn’t play but I had my favourites. I practiced hurdles and threw the javelin on the oval for hours after school. I trained and played water polo in the now demolished outdoor sea pool at Henley Beach in summer and throughout winter.
Sport made me feel powerful. I wanted to be strong, fast, agile and sleek. It was a place in which I felt accepted, part of the team, acknowledged and encouraged to excel. It was my escape and a refuge from 1970s expectations about what women could and should be and do. It helped me write my own rules.
