Ally O'Connor (Left) as Vixens Reserves Captain, and Vice Captain Bella Hodgson right. Photo courtesy of Netball Victoria.
Ally is a Warrnambool girl born and bred having studied nursing at Deakin University in Geelong. When it came time to choose where she wanted to spend her graduate year as a nurse the choice was easy “Warrnambool was my number one choice, and it wasn’t just because I grew up here. I looked at the study supports, the rotations, Warrnambool was just a great choice.”
Ally was matched to South West Healthcare and it seemed like her year was set – but then she got another call. The Melbourne Vixens drafted the talented netballer to their reserves side, giving her the chance to live out another lifelong dream- to play netball professionally.
Playing netball in Melbourne and completing her graduate year 3.5 hours away in Warrnambool would have been difficult for most to manage, but with the support of the nursing team at SWH, Ally was able to arrange her roster to ensure that she could make the most of both opportunities, without having to compromise.
“I am so lucky, I have been so incredibly supported by South West Healthcare, I can’t overstate how amazing they have been,” she says.
I have to play weekends and get to Melbourne for training, so during the netball season I have been placed on the Day Stay Ward, which doesn’t operate weekends and my NUM Marli has been great at making sure I am rostered on a late, if I have played a game the night before, or on an early if I need to get to a training session that afternoon in Melbourne.”
“Without having their support I wouldn’t have been able to do both, I would have had to make a really tough choice.”
Following her time on Day Stay Ally will then continue onto the Acute Ward where she will then work a wider range of hours, without having to work around the netball season.
Although Vixens team members do travel from Ballarat and Geelong, Ally travels the farthest – a testament to her dedication to both her nursing role and the team.
“I would love to have a career in midwifery, so it’s important to me not to just let my nursing career go while playing netball, and after spending so many years studying, I didn’t want to put my graduate year off or put it on hold.”
With such a strong sense of dedication and time-management, we know that SWH and its consumers are lucky to have graduate nurses like Ally, in our ranks.