As Claudia McKimmie reflects on her first season in the Tallangatta and District League, her memories stem from not only the netball court, but also the car.
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The 22-year-old from Corryong racked up plenty of kilometres after joining Yackandandah from Upper Murray League club Federal this season.
While fellow Upper Murray export Anna Beirs was once her rival on court, the Roos' 2023 coach became one of the major factors in luring McKimmie to the club this season.
"Anna asked if I would be interested and I finally decided it would be nice to play with her rather than against her," McKimmie said.
The pair became weekly travel companions as they made the three hour round trip for training.
"Sometimes we talked about netball and sometimes it was nice just to connect with Anna outside of netball," McKimmie said.
"I know her kids really well now and we've become a bit like a family.
"It was a long haul towards the end of the season and it definitely became tough and exhausting, but I guess playing finals counter-balanced that exhaustion because there was so much excitement.
"Netball just definitely had to become the priority and it was all worth it.
"For the fun, success and excitement that finals brought us, we were definitely happy to put in the effort."
McKimmie had previously played Ovens and Murray netball with Wodonga Bulldogs and represented Coolamon in the Riverina League whilst studying.
"It was so loud," she said.
"Yack's such a great club and all the footballers came and watched us.
"The Upper Murray draws a crowd, but I hadn't seen anything like that for a long time.
"Yack's a very successful club with a lot of experienced players there, like Jess Garland and Justine Willis, who know how to play in finals, so it was great to experience that with them."
While McKimmie has coaching experience under her belt after returning to lead Federal's A-grade side last year, she said she enjoyed just being involved in a playing capacity this season.
"I'm a school teacher, so I really have a passion for coaching kids especially," she said.
"However, I really enjoyed putting all my energy and effort into playing and being the best person I could be on court this season.
"I think being a playing coach takes something special and Anna was great at doing that.
"Hopefully one day I can do what she's doing, just as well as her."
While there's been plenty of questions surrounding where she will play next season, McKimmie said she's keeping her options open for now.
"I'm just enjoying the off season as much as possible at the moment and putting time into other things," she said.
