McSpadden recognised by WNBL for community engagement
As much as Sydney Flames’ Lara McSpadden has been contributing on the court this season, she’s also been working just as hard off it – as shown by her nomination for the WNBL’s Community Award.
McSpadden is one of five finalists for the prestigious award, alongside Canberra pair Alex Bunton and Chloe Tugliach, Melbourne’s Sherrie Calleia and Townsville’s Courtney Woods.
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The Newcastle junior, who chalked up her 100th WNBL game this season, lives with type one diabetes and does a significant amount of work supporting and raising awareness for diabetes in Australia, led by her ambassadorship for the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation.
The 24-year-old is an AMSL [Australasian Medical and Scientific Limited] All Star, which involves her sharing her story as a type one diabetic athlete on the AMSL platform.
She has worked with AMSL in the promotion of the Dexcom G5 and G6 continuous glucose monitor by taking over their social media and documenting her experience with the technology.
Flame #171 has been a member of several seminars, most recently the annual AMSL sports and exercise webinar where athletes talked candidly about life with diabetes, and managing diabetes amongst professional sporting commitments to help educate listeners.
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McSpadden, who attends the annual One Walks (a charity walk that raises funds for research into curing T1D), also talked on a variety of podcasts including the Diabetes Victoria ‘Living Well with Diabetes’ podcast with Jack Fitzpatrick and the Basket Case.
This nomination comes on the back of fellow Flame Lauren Nicholson being shortlisted for both the MVP and Fans MVP awards – which will all be revealed at Sunday’s annual presentation evening in Melbourne.
More finalists for the other major WNBL awards will be revealed over the coming days.