FORMER Wonthaggi netballer Zac Mabilia was recently announced as the midcourt reserve for the Australian men’s netball squad the Kelpies.
He was also thrilled to be listed in the Fast 5 World Series side.
The midcourt player was contacted by head coach Nerida Stewart with news he would attend a training camp for potential selection on April 14, a week after nationals finished.
“She told me I had been invited and I was excited to be part of the squad and be able to get out on court this time – without injury,” he said.
“I was really looking forward to the camp and being able to be part of this environment.”
Zac attended the four-day selection camp in at the AIS in Canberra, which was a full-on experience with both on and off-court sessions.
“The camp was very intense with everyone going hard, as it was selections,” he said.
“Overall, the camp was so much fun – meeting all the players from different states and being able to play against the highest level. It was so amazing to learn from the off-the-court sessions and to understand what it is like to be an athlete in the Kelpies space.
“In addition to this, because I’m still 18, I’m still eligible to be selected into the U20s Aussie men’s side or the U23s Aussie men’s side. Both of these sides also have their own respective international tours,” he said.
The recently selected team will travel alongside the Australian Diamonds for the Constellation Cup Series in October.
For the Kelpies, this match is against the New Zealand Net Blacks men’s team in a four-game series.
The venues are in Wellington and Auckland, with two games in New Zealand and two games in Australia.
The Australian venues are yet to be announced.
Zac ran into trouble last year when he suffered stress fractures in his back.
He attended the U17s selection camp – as well as the Kelpies selection camp – but was unable to participate due to his injury.
“Sitting at the camps was a pretty tough experience as I wanted to be out on the court, but looking back, the Kelpies camp in particular was an invaluable experience. It exposed me to what that high-performance environment was like and meant that going this year I knew what to expect and how it was going to run,” he said.
“This also meant that this year I was a little more comfortable going into camp, as I knew who most of the people were and had a good idea of how it was going to run.”
Zac went through six months of rehab, followed by a reloading process to get back on the court.
He is well and truly back in the swing of things with plenty of training.
At the moment, he puts in one to two court sessions per week, as well as one to two strength and conditioning sessions in the gym.
He also plays footy when he can fit it around netball, as well as basketball and tennis.
Zac’s netball journey started when he went to Net Set Go with his cousins.
He asked if he could join in and found a love for the sport.
He played at the Wonthaggi Netball Association on Saturday mornings before going on to join Wonthaggi Power’s U13 side.
He played for two years and met the cut-off due to his age.
From there, he started playing in the Waverley and District Netball Association in the Saturday competition for the Hartwell Netball Association.
He also played representative netball for Waverley.
He then moved into the Victorian men’s netball pathway, trialling for the U17s state team and was a training partner for the reserves side.
Zac played in the U17s for three years.
He went to nationals twice, winning in 2022 and 2023 as captain.
He was the grand final MVP awardee and was named in the All-Star Seven as centre.
In 2022, he was selected into the Australian men’s U17 side and toured in New Zealand.
The team won all the round games in the U23s national competition but lost the final game to the New Zealand U20s side by one.
This year, Zac played in the U23s Victorian men’s side at nationals and took the title, defeating South Australia in the grand final by nine points.
Zac described it as a “full-on week”, playing 11 games.
He was recognised as the All-Star Seven wing attack for the tournament.
Zac was thrilled to be part of the most recent selection process.
“I was excited to get out there and part of it, but was also very nervous,” he said.
“Overall, I’m just happy and thankful to be given the opportunity to be there.”
