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GALLERY: Kotara South netballers find the purrfect fundraiser

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A cat named Kevin, a turtle wearing a black and orange bow and a dachshund in a sports bag – while it might read like the start of a Dr Suess book, is in fact Kotara South Netball Club’s newest fundraising ploy. 

After taking a financial hit in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions, a pair of club stalwarts have taken it upon themselves to find a new way to raise much-needed funds.

Netballers Ash Gray and Steph Bell are planning to publish a 2022 pet calendar, featuring a collection of the club’s most adored four-legged, scaled or feathered friends, dressed in club colours.

Whether it’s wearing a netball dress, training top or club hoodie, draped in ribbons or sat in a sports equipment bag, all members have been asked to showcase their pets in Kotara South Netball Club’s iconic orange and black.

“We want to look at it and know straight away it belongs to Kotara,” Ms Gray said. 

“They’re the only restrictions we’ve added. Oh, and please don’t harm your pets.”

After putting a call out for entries on the club’s Facebook page, Ms Gray says the responses have been encouraging.

“We’ve had a turtle, a cat called Kevin, plenty of dogs and somehow one of the young girls in my team is going to dress her bird up. 

“I don’t know how she’s going to do that, but she’s pretty creative so I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

The creative ideas haven’t stopped there, with Ms Bell including her fish as her entry.

“I was committed to including all of my pets,” she said.

“So that meant the fish as well.

“I printed out the Kotara logo and stuck it to the back of the tank and took a photo of them. 

“I fed them beforehand and asked them to pose so I’m pretty sure they were smiling.”

The idea for the calendar had its roots in the duo’s regular photo sharing.

“I think we were sending each other photos of our pets one day and we said ‘wouldn’t it be a great idea if we did this with the whole club’,” Ms Gray said.

“Some ideas stick and some don’t but this one, well we pushed for this one.”

The duo took their idea to club president Helena Hannan who encouraged their plans.

“I think she just said we couldn’t take the photos at the courts because pets weren’t supposed to be there, but other than that she loved the idea.”

If the number of entries is anything to go by, so too do the club’s members.

If the entries exceed page numbers, Ms Gray says winners will be subject to a vote by club committee members.

“We’d hope they’d choose on creativity, variety and pets that have a good story,” she said.

“Surely that means the turtle’s in already, and some rescue dogs have the best stories.”

Ms Bell and Ms Gray are hoping to have the calendars ready to distribute by Christmas.

The funds raised from the calendars will go toward purchasing new equipment for the club.

Further details can be found at the Kotara South Netball Club Facebook page.

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