“I WANT to make Suncorp Super Netball, not sure how many years I’m off doing that, but hopefully a training partner role is the next step.”

Little did Charlotte Sexton know, that statement would soon become a reality. Sexton was announced as one of the five training partners with the Melbourne Vixens for the 2025 Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) season.

It follows a breakout career that’s only just beginning.

Sexton first picked up a netball while in Grade 6 and quickly joined her local club Sandhurst in the Bendigo Football Netball League. There was no other option as the whole Sexton family played for Sandhurst.

“It was our Under 17s team … we all just went to be guinea pigs for this random lady,” Sexton told Rookie Me Central.

“We were just going to help her out and there were all these coaches from Bendigo to watch her coach.

“I was like, ‘ok it’s not about us’. I had no idea they would be looking at me. I didn’t realise, but that coach was there to talent ID me and they didn’t tell me.”

That “random lady” was national under 21 head coach and Adelaide Thunderbirds assistant coach Cathy Fellows.

The supposed coaching clinic got Sexton talent ID’d and invited to the Victoria under 19 state trials near the end of 2022.

“All the Melbourne leagues, they’ve got to be so much better than the country league, so I expected nothing from it,” she said. “I thought I was just going to go down and get kicked out after the first round.

To the 191cm defender’s surprise, she made the final squad travelling to Darwin. 

“It was really surprising to me because I didn’t think anything of my netball,” Sexton said.

As trials progressed, Sexton was among some familiar faces in the Victorian Netball League (VNL) with Sexton yet to reach that level. Following the National Netball Championships, she was selected for the Australia under 19 squad and went on to be categorised as an emerging athlete which led to a scholarship from the VIS.

“This was my first real intense lot of netball and I ended up getting a lot of court time, which I was not expecting,” she said.

“I was expecting them to give more court time to girls that have played VNL and been to nationals before and had more experience.

“I went from doing nothing in Melbourne to all this.”

Sexton would continue her time in Melbourne after signing with the City West Falcons for the 2023 season in their Under 19s squad. They ended the season runners up with Sexton named in the team of the year, in her first year of VNL.

Sexton found out she was selected in the Victorian Under 19s squad while on schoolies in 2022.

“I didn’t want to think about anything, I just wanted to go to schoolies with my friends and celebrate the school year,” she said.

“Seeing everyone else able to go and do everything they wanted to was the hardest part because I had to always be available for training.”

It was all worth it in the end because Sexton felt like she was at home getting to train at the AIS.

“I felt like I was in the right place because everyone was my age and we were all doing the same thing,” she said.

The defender was picked out of the Australian under 19s squad into the Vic Fury squad. This was the “most intense [Sexton] ever played” but only found it beneficial to her breaking into the elite environment.

Sexton was playing against girls much older who had also been playing for longer. She described the first training session as one of the most eye opening experiences.

The Bendigo Strikers were introduced to the Victorian Netball League in 2024, one of two clubs entering the competition, allowing more exposure to elite sport for regional athletes. Sexton was one of the first signings for the club to take part in its championship side, and she went on to win the club’s inaugural best and fairest award.

“I just had to play, I would have too much FOMO,” Sexton said. “It’s just so exciting for our community. We’ve been working for so long to get a team in the VNL and to be part of it is really exciting.”

Many sacrifices have been made by Sexton to pursue her netball dream. The 20-year-old lives in Melbourne throughout the week because majority of her netball takes place in Melbourne. She goes back home on the weekends to play country netball for Sandhurst and train for the Strikers.

“I found the travel from Bendigo to Melbourne three or four times a week really taxing,” Sexton said.

“It changed my attitude towards netball. It felt like so much more of a chore than actually something I wanted to get better at and enjoy.”

Sexton had to travel four hours in the car for two hours of training. This acted as the tipping point for her as Sexton also has to balance her studies.

The VIS scholarship holder is studying occupational therapy across La Trobe University’s Bundoora and Bendigo campuses to help Sexton pursue both her degree and netball. As part of the La Trobe Elite Athlete Program (LEAP), the youngster can get adjustments on her university work in order to excel in her sport.

“I’m enjoying my netball a lot more this year. I actually get really excited to go to training because I don’t have to travel the whole way.”

Sexton is eternally grateful to be able to share the court with her sister Imogen who she partners up with at the defensive end for the Strikers.

“You’d imagine siblings bickering on court and getting angry at each other, but we were the opposite and got around each other,” Sexton said. “We didn’t get much time on court together. “I think it was cool playing and training with her.”

Imogen has been Charlotte’s idol ever since she was young and always wanted to be like her.

“She made it into some School Sport Victoria teams for netball and I remember when I was younger, I went down and watched her and the intensity of the netball down there was so much higher and it was so much better to watch that it made me want to play better,” Sexton said.

“I’d then go home and play for my primary school and I’d been going so hard because I wanted to play like her.”

Sexton now has her eyes firmly on making the Australian Under 21s squad in preparation for the Netball Youth World Cup in 2025. But first on her radar is to make an impact in the Vixens environment.