Feature image via Tom Rees
Chloe Forster has gone from WNBL fan, to NBL1 National Champion and fully rostered WNBL player in only a number of years.
The Warwick Senators champion went from attending Perth Lynx games at Bendat Basketball Centre as a diehard young basketball fan, to playing on that court in front of 1500 fans in the NBL1 West Grand Final last year.
“That was probably like the first game I've ever walked out and be like ‘Wow this is full’,” she said.
“You see all like the men's players that were coming in the crowd to watch us and the atmosphere was just completely surreal. It felt electric on the court when you're playing, every time you touched the basketball, I felt like the whole crowd was up on their feet.”
The 20-year-old is grateful she still gets to wear the uniform of her junior club in the NBL1, saying Warwick is a second home for her.
“It's really cool being able to say that I played all my juniors with Warwick Senators,” she said.
“The club is just absolutely amazing, I remember playing my WABL game on a Sunday morning, but then the Friday and Saturday night I'd be at the stadium, watching the men's and women's teams play.”
“Going through that pathway, being with the same club has just been really cool. It feels like a second home and a second family for me. It's cool seeing my younger sisters both playing for Warwick now. The pathway from juniors to now the NBL1 league, which is a nationwide competition, the pathway is incredible – and it is really cool for me to be able to show that it does exist, that it's doable.”
Forster explained that the National Champions last season was not something the team expected going into the tournament over in Victoria.
In the pre-season, the team set the goal to win the NBL1 West Championship – but they had no idea they’d come out of the 2022 season with two championship rings let alone one.
The Warwick Senators are Champions ? pic.twitter.com/u444muINbI
She said that last season’s National Finals was some of the hardest basketball she’s ever played, the Championship Game, in particular, was an entire opposition crowd as Warwick was the enemy to the Ringwood Hawks faithful in the crowd.
That game was that game was crazy. Just looking up into the grandstands and you could just see this whole sea of green, all the Ringwood supporters,” Forster said.
It was definitely tough, didn't help that we had two fans in the stands, which were Stacy's (Barr) parents. Everyone else was going for the other team.”
Forster explained that the group’s bond was the defining factor of their run, especially when they faced a hostile crowd in a different state.
“The determination of the girls (was the x-factor), we didn't have our fans, we didn't have the men's team watching us, it really was just us playing for each other that weekend,” she said.
“It's probably the hardest weekend of basketball that we've ever played… And I think all of us girls were so tired by the end of the trip. But really, by the time it came up to that Grand Final, we were just playing for each other, nothing else mattered.
“As long as we were still getting around each other and the way we fought that game, it really showed how much love and compassion we had for each other just because it really felt like we were doing it for each other rather than ourselves.”
But this season the Coles Express NBL1 National Finals will be in Joondalup, WA. Only 20 minutes from the Senators’ home court and somewhere Forster has played countless times.
She said she was shocked to hear the Nationals Finals would be in her home state and she cannot wait to defend the title in front of her friends, family and fans.
“When I heard the news, it was mind-blowing to play at Joondalup,” she said.
“It’s the Senators' rivalry club, 20 minutes away from each other. So we always grew up playing against each other during our juniors and WABL and now NBL1, It's like a big thing when we versus each other just because we are the two local Derby teams.
“For it to be announced that it's being played at HBF Stadium is unreal. I grew up playing there and playing against teams there. And to know that we're actually going to have a home crowd this year, and my family is going to be able to be at the games is unbelievable.
“I couldn't be more excited.”
Get your tickets to the Coles Express NBL1 National Finals from the 18th to the 20th of August here.
