Our Marie Little Shield Story
The Marie Little OAM Sheild (MLS) is an annual tournament that provides women 16 years and older, with an intellectual disability the chance to complete at a national level.
Marie Little OAM was the founder of Sport Inclusion Australia in 1986 and dedicated her working life to improve the lives of people with an intellectual disability, using the medium of sport. Renaming the event in her name was in honour of her work within the netball community.
The inaugural MLS was in 2013 with three teams contesting the title and in 2016, Western Australia and Queensland were invited to enter teams into the competition. Since then, Netball Tasmania joined the tournament with our very first team in 2024. Our inaugural Netball Tasmanian team entered the tournament, and our MLS team name, decided by the team’s first members is now known as the Tassie Emeralds.
Tassie Emeralds are defined as Bright Green and represents balance, harmony and growth! This statement resonates with all of our Tassie Emeralds team members.
In our first tournament, all of our participants, coaches and support staff displayed an outstanding acts of sportsmanship, spirit and friendship.