![South Warrnambool star Ally O'Connor dishes off a pass in a recent Hampden league clash. Picture by Eddie Guerrero South Warrnambool star Ally O'Connor dishes off a pass in a recent Hampden league clash. Picture by Eddie Guerrero](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/157463791/7f423e3f-6f01-4475-a207-3fedd4d60599.jpg/r0_0_4724_3790_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A leading Hampden league open grade mid-courter says the opportunity to play for another state at the Australian Netball Championships is unique.
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South Warrnambool star Ally O'Connor has been selected to represent Northern Territory Storm at the championships, which will run from August 21-27 at Morayfield Sports and Events Centre in Brisbane.
Eleven teams from across the country will compete in the round-robin tournament.
The 23-year-old nursing student said the opportunity to represent the Top End presented itself after Victorian Fury decided to pick a younger squad with the Australian under 21 team to be selected off performances at the championships.
"For the Victorian team, because I'm 23 I fall outside of that bracket so the Fury were looking for athletes around that age which is totally fine," she said.
"Through that, they sent off video footage of my game and the Storm selected me based off that, which is really cool."
The 2021 Hampden league open grade best and fairest winner - who will jet to Darwin for a training camp on Thursday night - said she was excited to be part of the Northern Territory's return to the national competition for the first time since 2019.
She said it was an opportunity to learn new things and expose herself to a completely new environment.
Northern Territory is a lot smaller in terms of netball so it's special to be part of promoting the game.
- Ally O'Connor
"I didn't know it until recently (Storm returning to the competition) and to be honest it's actually quite special to be part of," she said.
"Northern Territory is a lot smaller in terms of netball so it's special to be part of promoting the game there, it's great to be part of it.
"It's a great exposure point for me. I'm really excited to play with a different state, Victoria is such a strong netball state but to maybe learn some new things and play with some different players is something I'm really looking forward to.
"And I get to play my favourite sport for a week, so that's just awesome."
O'Connor, who also represents Geelong Cougars in the Victorian Netball League alongside her South Warrnambool commitments in the Hampden league, said preparations for the championships would ramp up in coming days.
"I'll miss a fair few games from here on (for South Warrnambool) until finals but I'll head to Darwin and then go to a training camp this weekend," she said.
"I've been doing my court sessions at home, training with the Cougars and alongside the (Victorian) Fury as well.
"The championships will come around pretty quickly so it's going to be good."
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