Local Dunghutti player selected for Australian Indigenous Netball team

Kimeel Walker only had one word to describe how she felt being selected.

"Happy," she said.

Kimeel had travelled to the Gold Coast to compete in the Australian Indigenous Schoolgirls Championships with approximately 100 other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls from across Australia.

It was a successful trip with Kimeel's NSW Echidnas team #2 dominating their under 14s division and winning the grand final.

On top of the win, Kimeel and her teammate Dunghutti and Wiradjuri player Shakiylah Chatfield were both selected to play for the under 13s Australian Budgies Indigenous schoolgirls netball team.

The team is scheduled to play at the upcoming International Netball Festival in Aotearoa/ New Zealand from September 25 to October 4.

"I was happy to know I had a friend in the team as well," Kimeel said.

"...it's going to take some time to get to know the other girls."

Kimeel will likely not meet the rest of her team mates, who hail from Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland, until she travels for the festival.

The local player has been playing netball ever since she was five-years-old and it's since become a passion.

"My Mum made me," Kimeel said.

"It's fun to play."

Already, Kimeel and her family have been fundraising to help get the talented player to the festival.

"We've done doubles for the [women's] State of Origin and a number board," Kimeel said.

Other members of the community have come on board to help.

The Dunghutti Aboriginal Land Council has shown their support with a grant and a kid's disco to raise money is planned to be held at the Dunghutti Elders Council on Saturday, June 22.

"It feels great," Kimeel said about the support from the community.