Mel Pearson lives for her netball and the June long weekend is the pinnacle for her each year.
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The 22-year-old will be a part of the Tamworth opens representative side competing at the Netball NSW Senior State Titles which return after being cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19.
"It was a bit of a shock not going down in June. It was so different, so hard. I love it so much," Pearson said of 2020.
"I love state, I love netball and not being able to play was disappointing but it was just one of those things."
Pearson - a HR manager at McDonalds - instead worked last year and she is, understandably, jumping out of her skin to get back to Sydney for this year's titles.
"I'm so pumped. I'm bouncing with excitement at the moment," Pearson told The Leader on Thursday.
"I'm so keen to get away. We've worked so damn hard this year. We have an amazing team. We have such a great bond."
Pearson's love of netball stems from her enjoyment of being in a team environment.
From playing with Timbumburi in primary school and then McCarthy in high school, Pearson started playing rep netball for Tamworth as a 13-year-old.
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She progressed through the ranks and has been in the opens side for about three years.
The side has a good mix of old and new players in 2021, Pearson said.
The side played together at the Tamworth Representative Carnival together before they hit the road for more game time.
"We played in the Newcastle carnival at the start of May and then Forster two weeks ago," Pearson said.
"We won some and lost some but it was a good final hit-out."
The Tamworth open side will compete in division two with each team to play 18 matches over the three-day tournament.
Pearson enjoys every aspect of the carnival from the build-up to the competitive matches over a packed three days.
"Everyone is ready for three days of constant netball," Pearson said.
"We've made it this far. Made it through training, carnivals and now this is the final."
Tamworth will also have a 15s and a 17s side at the titles which start on Saturday.
Both the junior sides will compete in division three in their respective age groups.
Quirindi, Inverell and a range of other towns will also send representative sides to the tournament.
The Tamworth Netball committee thanked all their sponsors for helping make the trip to the state titles possible.