IF YOU don’t try you’ll never know. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. When one door closes another door opens.

Failure is only part of the process of progressing in sport. Not expecting everything to fall into place the first time round can be the moment a butterfly flapped its wings.

After trialling for state teams multiple times in the past, it was time for another one. One trial after another and another nothing seemed to be happening for Holly Adams-Alcock.

It got to a point where every moment would be cherished like it was the last. Top 50, top 25, then the final 12. Seems like a dream. Just try again.

“It doesn’t matter if I make it, doesn’t matter if I don’t, at least I had to go and I had made it to the top 25,” Adams-Alcock told Rookie Me Central.

It was as a bottom age under 19s player when she made the top 25 for the first time. That was a monumental moment in itself. After the next stage of trials, Adams-Alcock was notified via email that she was named as a reserve alongside Ella Clotser, Emma Storey and Montaya Sardi. After years of nothing seeming to work out, Adams-Alcock could not believe she had actually made the squad.

Low and behold to her she would be getting the call up into the final 12 a short time later.

“I kept getting called up to fill in her (Lily Graham’s) spot (at training) because she was with the Vixens at that point,” Adams-Alcock said.

“She wasn’t signed with the Vixen yet, but she was training with the Vixens.

“Three weeks out when Lily got called up, I got a call from Tracey [Brereton] asking me if I could step into the position and I said yes.”

All that time at training, working hard and being available paid off as state coach Tracey Brereton decided to reward the youngster for her hard work.

Adams-Alcock couldn’t believe she was about to compete at nationals for Victoria let alone seeing the amount of court time she did. From a reserve to main squad to starting shooter only in the matter of weeks.

“I was not expecting that much,” she said. “Kate [O’Dwyer] got injured, well not injured, she had hurt herself, which gave me a good opportunity to get some more court time. I got a lot more than I thought I would.”

Nations was one of the best experiences Adams-Alcock described. Not only the opportunity to wear the navy blue dress for your state, but being able to experience other playing styles for the first time.

This was the first time the 17-year-old had experienced players from outside Victoria. She said it was a great feeling to play against some of the best netballers from across Australia.

“Coming against some tough competition definitely helped me improve and just see what’s out there.”

“I’ve never been able to play for Victoria. I’ve only stayed within the state and never really experienced the skills in different ways that people play outside.”

Being from the Altona area, the City West Falcons would be the obvious choice. It only became a realistic one when Marg Lind helped Adams-Alcock get a foot in the door. Lind was also the coach of the Altona rep side who Adans-Alcock was playing for at the time.

“I didn’t know what the whole pathway was and VNL so I just followed what Marg [Lind] told me to do,” she said.

During her time at Bayside Netball Club in Altona, Adams-Alcock was always selected in a higher age division. This continued into her rep days at Altona then going into the VNL with the Falcons.

Her time at Bayside was just the start of consistently playing with and against players older than her and it was all thanks to coaches having belief.

“I was always moved up in age groups because those coaches believed in me,” Adams-Alcock said.

Falcons legend in Lind gave the shooter the opportunity to do some strength and conditioning sessions with the Falcons leading into the 2023 VNL season.

As a top age under 15s player, Adams-Alcock made the talent academy after her second attempt. During her time in the talent academy, she received a scholarship from Falcons and was signed in their under 19s VNL team the following year.

“I was on scholarship with the Falcons for one year, got to train with them and grow as an individual and as a player,” Adams-Alcock said.

Adams-Alcock always loved sport growing up and wanted to do anything and everything. She picked up a netball at six-years-old and decided that was going to be her life.

“I wanted to try every single sport that I think ever existed,” Adams-Alcock said. “Once I started actually getting somewhere in netball, I had to put aside all of those other dreams.”

“My childhood revolved around netball.”

One Saturday, Adams-Alcock’s team needed a shooter so her coach decided to flip ends and put the defender in the circle as a shooter and has been stuck there ever since.

“I was a defender growing up until under 13s because my mum was always a defender so I just followed in her footsteps,” she said.