Numurkah coach nominated in two Victorian Sport Awards categories

Baldi will head to the MCG on May 13 after she was nominated in the Victorian Sport Awards for Community Coach of the Year and the Peter Norman Inclusion Award, but the recognition isn’t just for her, she says, after her 14-strong program kicked off back in October.

“It’s a very big honour, and it was a bit of a shock to get an email saying I'm the finalist in two categories,” Baldi said.

“They’re obviously very prestigious awards, and the way that I look at it is that it's not about me – It's a win for inclusion.

“The All Abilities program at Numurkah was really successful. Fourteen people with disabilities got the chance to play cricket, many of them for the first time.

“They’re getting to connect with a mainstream sporting club because as we know people with disabilities are often excluded from mainstream sports.

“That was one of my big aims as well as within the club, to be able to educate people and break down those barriers.”

The idea came about after her inclusion in Cricket Australia’s Project Inspire program, one of 44 women selected to take part in the leadership-focused development block.

Attending the Women’s Ashes and earning mentoring from former Test cricket Belinda Clark, Baldi was inspired to take what she learned from the program and start up All Abilities cricket at Numurkah.

For Baldi, however, being able to co-ordinate such a program seemed a long way off after she was involved in a serious car accident back in 2022.

A routine drive back from Melbourne after attending T20 Cricket World Cup ended in a collision with a deer just outside of Seymour, resulting in significant damage and an acquired brain injury.

“It's been three-and-a-half years since I had a freak car accident that nearly claimed my life, and that’s been really tough,” she said.

“I wasn't born with a disability, I've developed a traumatic brain injury as a result of my car accident.

“I didn't think I'd ever be back coaching again.

“I lost a huge amount of independence and sport’s always been a huge part of my life and my identity, so to have to rebuild my life from scratch… I was very lost for a very long time.

“I didn't know who I was or what I was going to do in this world even though I'd worked and volunteered in disability sport for 15 years.

“It’s completely different to be on the other side of it, but now I feel like I've been able to use my disability for good.”

A scorer for Numurkah’s A and B-grade outfits for more than a decade, Baldi was forced to relearn that skillset as well, but with some help, she was not only back with the whistle in hand, but scribing for the club she “was born into”.

“My Dad, before he passed away, had 50 years of service up at Numurkah, so cricket’s always been a huge part of my life,” she said.

“I kind of forged my own road, and he could see that.

“I did really well in the coaching side of things and then I got into scoring. Altogether I think I’ve been scoring for about 15, 16 years.

“I still wanted to be involved, and Mitch Grandell was really great in teaching me to learn to score again.

“I had to learn to read, write, spell, and I started off just helping Mitch out for a couple of hours each game until I was able to build to scoring a whole game again by myself.”

While it can be seen as a bugbear for those wielding the willow and kookaburra, for Baldi it became a key cog in her mental health journey.

“I know a lot of players sometimes hate scoring; they find it a bit of a burden, especially when you've got to juggle between being dismissed early, square leg, not wanting to score,” she said.

“It’s a way to keep me involved, and it's been really good for my mental health and for my progression in learning to live with a disability as well.”

Baldi is hoping to bring the All Abilities program back next season and is hoping to shine more light on sport inclusion as her journey progresses.

“If I win or not, I’m really proud of what I’ve been able to achieve,” she said.

“I hope being a finalist is able to draw attention to those areas.”