THE giant Sutherland Shire Netball Association, one of the biggest in Australia, has produced several family dynasties, but none bigger than the Corbett family.
The dynasty started with coach Margaret Corbett several decades ago, coaching club and state teams and teams in national netball competitions.
Then the dynasty grew, first with her daughters and extending to a granddaughter, who is now coaching representative teams.
At the recent State Netball Championships at Baulkham Hills, where Sutherland's Open team proved victorious, no less than six members of the Corbett family were on show, coaching various association teams.
Margaret Corbett
Level 3 coach. NSW head coach for six years. Coached the Fiji National Team at Commonwealth Games. A Sutherland Netball Association life member, she has coached NSW open teams for 20 years and is still coaching Sutherland's State League 1 team.
Janet Baker
Past open state player and previous Australian squad member and life member of SSNA, she was the longest serving rep player with SSNA. Coached State League and State Age with SSNA for many years and now coaches Ulladulla Netball Association.
Angela Corbett
A police officer in the Dog Squad, she was a representative player for 15 years and this year coached the Sutherland Open team to win the State Championships. A Level 2 coach she has coached State League 1 at SSNA, the Under 19s for NSW and she coaches and plays for Green Point Netball Club.
Colleen Corbett
Coach of SSNA 13 years rep team and assistant coach of 12 years SSNA rep team last year. Coached Miranda Magpies and now coaches Cronulla Sharks Netball Club.
Maureen Clarke
Coached 17s Div 2 (came in first) for Ballina Netball Association at the 2008 State Championships. She is also an Under 19 NSW team assistant coach.
Amy Clarke
Amy, 18, is Maureen's daughter and Margaret's grand daughter She coaches the 14 years State Age Ballina team and was the assistant coach of Ballina's opens team which won opens division 2 at the NSW Championships.
Jillian Townsend and Alix Kennedy who represented NSW in the 17 years National Championships in Perth and play for Sutherland in Division 4, coached by Trish Bowmaker, have been selected to attend the Australian Institute of Sport this month for an intensive week of specialist training as part of the 17 years Australian Development Squad, under the watchful eye of Australian netball coach Norma Plummer.
The 2008 Netball State Age Championships will be held on the long weekend of July 5-7 at Maitland, with more than 300 teams competing, including those representing Sutherland and St George. Sutherland has a 12, 13, 14 and 15 year team entered in the Championship Division.