Today's Deb Knight shares brilliant throwback to her netball days

These days she's a respected journalist, but before she kicked off her media career Deb Knight had a very different passion.

This morning the Today Show shared three adorable throwbacks its host’s netball days, joking in the caption "Our @deborah_knight was a bit of a netball pro back in the day!"

It's not difficult to recognise her younger self, with the pictures showing an 11-year-old Deb wearing her netball uniform in 1983.

In a white top and blue skirt she grins at the camera, sharing the frame with her teammates in two photos while she stands solo in a third.

Taken at the NSW State Championships in Coffs Harbour more than 30 years ago, the sweet photos serve as a reminder that even media personalities like Deb had simple beginnings.

She later retweeted the photos with the caption "Sporty spice…" shortly before sharing another Today Show tweet with a video of her showing off her netball skills today.

The clip, aired on Friday morning’s episode of the breakfast program, saw Deb umpiring a game between two teams of eight-year-old netballers, joining the NSW Swifts netball team for a "crash course" afterwards.

She joined the team's training session and took some advice from Michelle Phippard, one of the best netball umpires in the world, who gave her some tips on the differences between umpiring eight-year-olds and national champions.

Deb tried her hand at it, bouncing around the court with her umpire's whistle, but was quickly exhausted by their top-tier playing.

Sadly, it doesn't look like Deb will be hopping back on the court any time soon, but at least we got some cute throwbacks out of it.