She competed in the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games Buckling was born on 3 June 1992 in Sydney, but calls Mosman, New South Wales her hometown.

[1] She started playing water polo as a twelve-year-old in Year 7 at Wenona Girls School.

[1][3] In 2011, she was named a Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness/St Andrew's College Foundation Awards winner because of her water polo.

Buckling gave Scott advice related to future planning for water polo playing.

[10] While playing the sport casually on school and club level, she got a new coach at the Breakers, Jamie Ryan.

[4] In 2007, she was a member of the New South Wales development squad[11] and competed on the 2007 16 & Under National Championships Girls where she scored 15 goals in the competition.

That same year, as a member of the New South Wales team at the 20 & Under National Championships Junior Women, she scored 8 goals.

[15] Within 20 months of having Jamie Ryan being her coach on her local club side and as a fifteen-year-old, she made the Australian u-17 team[4][11] with her first international appearance for Australia occurring at the 2008 Australian Junior Tour at the Pythia Cup[1] in Greece where her team was runners-up.

At the 2011 Canada Cup, she scored a goal in the first period in the gold medal match against China that the Australian team ended up winning.

[3] She was part of the Stingers squad that competed in a five-game test against Great Britain at the AIS in late February 2012.