Netball
6 June, 2025
Ward celebrates historic milestone
It was a big couple of weeks for Pimpinio netballer Lisa Ward, who celebrated her 50th birthday and her milestone 434th game with the club within a fortnight of each other.
Ward brought up the all-time, historic club netball record against Kaniva Leeor United in C reserve last Saturday.
The Horsham local played mostly in wing attack, with her team recording a 19-goal win.
The club described Ward as being "the gold thread in our black and yellow", adding "that's grit, heart, loyalty and love for this club in every single pass".
Ward is a mum of four, with all of her children having pulled on the black and yellow at some stage, including her two daughters, who are currently playing juniors.
Away from the court, Ward's hobbies include cooking, gardening and travelling and she is an English learning specialist/teacher at Horsham Special School.
Ward played one year of juniors at Pimpimio before playing a year with St Michael's, winning the premiership.
"I then went back to Pimpinio around 1994 when I was 18 and have played every season since," she said.
The wing attack said she enjoyed the position because she liked feeding the ball in to and working with the goalies.
"When I was younger, I always played centre, but as the years went on I began swapping between centre and wing attack," Ward said.
"I have played every position over the years, and when I was a junior at Pimpinio I played that season in goal attack.
"I played a few games in goals in A grade also."
Over the years there have been a lot of changes, with Ward noting the game had become a lot more physical and tactical.
"I remember when defence was simply the one one-on-one zone," she reflected, before admitting she loved that the sport was ever evolving.
And the milestone isn't lost on Ward, who said she was happy to be playing still and it was a privilege denied to many.
"I have made so many friends over the decades playing for Pimpinio," she added.
"There are ones that stopped playing years ago but we remain close friends."
Ward, who has played all grades over the years, said playing finals was always a highlight, especially the ones in A grade.
"We made the finals numerous years in A grade in the late '90s and early 2000s," she said.
Among the highlights are also the accolades she has claimed along the way, including a league best and fairest and a league best and fairest runner-up in B grade.
But she has one favourite highlight by far.
"My favourite highlight by far was in 2023 coaching the 13s, in which my daughter played, whereby we went undefeated throughout the season and won the premiership," she said.
"We did this in the same year in the HCNA Friday night competition also."
