Meet Super Netball’s tallest ever player, Ugandan Mary Cholhok

The Queensland Firebirds will soon be joined by the tallest player to ever grace a Super Netball court, but despite this, coach Kiri Wills has stated her team won’t be a one trick pony.

At 201cm, Ugandan goal shooter Mary Cholhok will be the tallest player in the league when she joins her new teammates in Brisbane for training later in the week.

Cholhok has dominated England’s Super League as a holding shooter over the past several years and is sure to be the focus of the Firebirds’ attack.

While netball superstar Grace Nweke’s signing with the NSW Swifts has caused ripples in Australia and her homeland New Zealand, Cholhok’s Super Netball arrival has also made the news.

The 28-year-old has been the Super League’s top scorer four times since her debut* in 2019, her efforts helping the UK’s Loughborough Lightning to three premierships.

But Cholhok has long wanted to test herself in Australia and Super Netball, the league considered the world’s best competition.

Coach Wills is also new at the Firebirds but has been interested in Cholhok for some time.

Formerly the coach of New Zealand team the Northern Stars, Coach Wills tried unsuccessfully to lure* Cholhok to New Zealand’s ANZ Premiership, which has a limit of one import* per team. She said she was thrilled to learn that Cholhok had been signed by the Firebirds.

“I’d been trying to get her, yes,” Wills said at the Firebirds’ fan day at Brisbane’s Southbank Parklands on Sunday.

“She’s absolutely the kind of athlete you want in this competition and she deserves that step up as well.

“She’s gone so well internationally, the Vitality League (English Super League) has done her some really good groundwork, so this is the next step for her and she is very, very excited – and very committed to settling in here and making the most of the opportunity.”

The Swifts’ Nweke is still one of the tallest players in the league at 193cm, while the Adelaide Thunderbirds’ Romelda Aiken-George is 196cm and West Coast Fever’s Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard is 198cm.

The height record was previously held by goaler Jane Cook, who played three games for the Thunderbirds in 2017, was listed at 199cm ahead of her debut and 200cm in media guides* after that, but claimed 201cm – proud of “every millimetre” of her height.

Now Cholhok will officially become the tallest ever athlete to be playing regularly, her height making her “very difficult to stop”, according to Coach Wills.

“Her hands are the size of dinner plates, so if we can get the ball in the vicinity*, we should be able to pull it in,” she said.

“What I do love about Mary, though, is that she also has a lot of great ball skill and fluidity* to her game.

“So she’s happy to take the ball at the top of the circle and then do a lay-up under the post, so I think the two point game and her versatility* – she’s not just going to be holding in the back space – is going to be really good for us.”

Wills said goal attacks Tippah Dwan and Emily Moore would also be reliable and consistent scorers to ensure the Firebirds didn’t become predictable.

Cholhok, who arrives in the River City after competing at the recent Netball Nations Cup, is one of three new faces in the Firebirds squad, along with England Roses midcourter Imogen Allison – who also rejoined the squad last week after international duties – and Queensland pathways player Ash Barnett.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• debut: first time playing
• lure: try and get someone to join the team
• import: bring in from another country
• media guides: official information released about a player and given to journalists
• vicinity: in the general area
• fluidity: smoothness or flow
• versatility: being able to do lots of useful things or change from one skill to another when needed

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QUICK QUIZ
1. How tall is the tallest player in Super Netball?
2. How does Coach Wills describe the size of Mary Cholhok’s hands?
3. Which country has Cholhok been playing netball in for the past few years?
4. Which other netballer has claimed to be 201cm tall but doesn’t play in the league regularly?
5. Which other netball team did Kiri Wills try to sign Cholhok to in the past?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Height advantage
There are certainly a lot of advantages of being 201cm tall when playing a shooting position in the game of netball. However, there might be some disadvantages that some shorter players could take advantage of too.

Work with a classmate and list three disadvantages for being as tall as Mary Cholhok in the Super Netball competition:
1.

2.

3.

What are obvious advantages to being so tall when playing the game of netball?
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Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
The Firebirds coach said her team won’t be a “one trick pony.” What does this expression mean?

Think of another figure of speech commonly used in sport like this one.

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Read this!
A headline on an article – or a title on your text – should capture the attention of the audience, telling them to read this now. So choosing the perfect words for a headline or title is very important.

Create three new headlines for the events that took place in this article. Remember, what you write and how you write it will set the pace for the whole text, so make sure it matches.

Read out your headlines to a partner and discuss what the article will be about based on the headline you created. Discuss the tone and mood you set in just your few, short words. Does it do the article justice? Will it capture the audience’s attention the way you hoped? Would you want to read more?

Consider how a headline or title is similar to using short, sharp sentences throughout your text. They can be just as important as complex ones. Go through the last text you wrote and highlight any short, sharp sentences that capture the audience.