Team names included 'Chillax' and 'Mildly athletic', but the competition at the Australian Masters Games was anything but.
ADF women's netball finished third in the 20th edition of the competition for over 30s.
More than 7000 athletes competed in more than 50 sports at the event in Canberra from October 18 to 25.
Defence played 10 matches before the semi-final.
They narrowly missed out on a chance to play for gold, going down by a goal with a fraction of a second remaining on the clock.
Captain of the Masters squad Major Alice Walthall said winning wasn't everything.
The games were tough, but the atmosphere was collegiate.
"We had kids from the opposition teams come and join our warm-ups; one of the girls was wearing our hair ribbons and our jacket while we were playing against her mum," Major Walthall said.
"The other team gave us a speech about how impressed they were with our Defence values and putting that out on court, and what we do in our day job and coming along playing sport as well."
'When you get older, you don't get selected in the opens teams, so it's really nice to have an avenue keeping the ladies playing netball and it's something to look forward to.'
Major Walthall said everyone had played at least some netball before, but the beauty of the Masters competition was a chance to bring people back to the sport.
"When you get older, you don't get selected in the opens teams, so it's really nice to have an avenue keeping the ladies playing netball and it's something to look forward to," she said.
Such was the case for Air Force Sergeant Ashlea Mountney.
The defender grew up playing netball as a kid but stopped the sport to start a family.
It was her second Australian Masters Games after getting back into the sport for the Pan Pacific Masters Games in 2024.
This year she was voted MVP by the other players.
"It's just a group of women having a good time playing a sport that they all enjoy," Sergeant Mountney said.
Goal attack player Leading Seaman Erin Fox also grew up playing netball but stopped when she enlisted.
"The first few years of your career, I guess you're super busy trying to get your head around being in Defence," Leading Seaman Fox said.
"When you get a little bit further you realise you can play representative sports.
"So now that I'm eligible for Masters, it's still nice to be selected to represent the ADF."
The Masters and opens squads for 2026 will be selected at the annual ADF Netball combined tournament in November.
