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Karen Berger welcome to my podcast a
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thanks for having me what a lovely day
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it is 9:30 on a on a Monday morning
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little bit of um behind the scenes here
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so uh you and I have been going
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backwards and forwards we set this up
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maybe a month ago six weeks ago and I
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assumed that you were going to be an
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ockland for net wall but I I had no idea
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the significance of the game so
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yesterday afternoon it was um New
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Zealand versus Australia and you guys
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won congratulations and it was your it
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was a milestone game it was your 50 game
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yeah as a silver Fern and at the end
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there was a presentation with a big
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bunch of flowers and uh massive
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highlights were were playing on the on
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the video screen and here you are the
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morning after oh gosh yeah it's been a
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massive couple of months for us actually
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to be honest a year um heaps a net ball
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so it's just good to have finished on a
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highlight that last night unfortunately
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we didn't come away with the cup because
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of the gold differentials but to be able
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to win the last couple of games against
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Aussie was amazing and I wasn't aware of
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the Milestone and that it was happening
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so um I pretty much found out when I
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arrived at the game how are you not
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aware um well you know like we don't
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track how many games we play like we get
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told oh great you've played so many
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games so um I knew it was coming up at
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some point because of the filming that
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they' done prior so I just didn't know
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when it was going to happen to be honest
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I actually thought I missed it this year
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um and I think I was watching the men's
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game before ours and one of the um CA
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people came up to me like oh
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congratulations I was like um on what um
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so yeah that's pretty much when I found
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out but it's good to not know because
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that just adds a bit of extra pressure
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on you that you don't need need you know
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celebrations and surprise afterwards
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quite nice yeah but it must be a nice
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time to I don't know maybe take a moment
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to pause and reflect on where you've
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come from because I I mean I before I
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started researching for this chat I I
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thought I knew the Caren Burger story I
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thought talented netballer maybe got
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shoulder tapped to come to New Zealand
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and and sort of develop here but the the
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actual story is quite different and
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we'll get into this but you moved here
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when you were 18 you weren't on anyone's
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radar when it came to like high
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performance sport yeah and you just like
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grind and grafted away for many years
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yeah um I think people quite often ask
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me like why did you make like what made
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you make the big move um and at that
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point like when you're 18 you just want
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to go do something you want to have fun
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like any Adventure is a good Adventure
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so Mom mentioned that she had family
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here was actually here I um Dad had a
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best friend over there or mom had family
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here which I hadn't met at that point um
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but I thought yeah why not and I just
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came for a holiday for a gap Year and
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that it's turned into 12 years um and I
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think the Nets are good driving force
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for me to want to keep to stay um but I
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also started building a life outside of
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that and I think that's what helped with
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that grind uh didn't take well took me
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up to seven years before I actually
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pulled on that black dress so um and
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again people ask me how how you lasted
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that long or how you kept grinding but
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if you've got stuff other stuff that you
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can focus on and also not have all your
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eggs in one basket that's just a part of
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your life um so yeah I really started
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building a life for myself in New
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Zealand and that's why I could have
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stayed and kep doing what I was doing
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yeah yeah it's a good message and we'll
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we'll dig really deep into into all that
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as we get through first first of all I
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just want to go back to last night a
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little bit so so the day of a big game
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like that New Zealand versus Australia
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um what what does what does the day look
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like so you get up in the morning yeah
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game day is pretty much Groundhog Day to
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be honest it was a bit of an earlier
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game so we didn't have the as much
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downtime as we usually do but we get up
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in the morning we go to our Captain's
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run that's mainly for our Shooters to
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just go shoot um we've this last couple
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of series we started because we've got a
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lot of young ones in our team and we've
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started dancing so you're 30 what's
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what's a young one oh no we've got like
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babies like 19 year olds like 20 21 year
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olds like they're really babies um
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so um we've started this dancing um so
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cool and we just danced to start off
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with the captain's run it just gets the
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vibe going and that um yeah just some
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fun and then the shooters get to shoot
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so finish off our Captain's run go back
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to the hotel pretty much eat and rest
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and eat and rest and eat and rest until
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we have to strap and get ready for the
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game so it's a pretty chill day um but
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yeah pretty much Groundhog Day for for
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game days are you nervous the day of a
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game um yes and no I don't think the
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nerves kick in for me personally until
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I'm actually out there on court
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especially standing singing The Anthem
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or sometimes in the changing room um and
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it depends on the magnitude of the game
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as well um but once that whistle goes
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it's gone because then the adrenaline
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kicks in and you're good to go so it's
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just managing that stress beforehand so
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it just doesn't override um your
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performance and so what happened in the
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series so the first two games Australia
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um beat New Zealand quite convincing
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by like sort of 10 points each game and
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then the second two games you guys
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turned it around completely they were
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they were tight wins but they were still
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wins yeah I think um a Home Advantage
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counts quite a lot for the team whoever
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and whoever's country it's played and
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Australia had a massive um crowd like
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two massive stadiums um and also they're
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the reigning Champs I mean well deserved
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they play amazing neet Ball but we also
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knew that we can do better we're way
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better than what we've been putting out
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there so it's just good to have seen in
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the last couple of games we started
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clicking and then we had that eighth
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player the crowd backing us as well so
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we really just wanted to um put some
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pride in that dress and um play for the
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country because we've had massive
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support which is amazing we're very
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grateful for so we just want to put it
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out there for the fans as well yeah it
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must have been a strange uh feeling for
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Australia last night because um they
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just lost the game um the series was
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tied to all and they won this Trophy and
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must be really weird like losing a game
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and then after giving it everything and
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then winning it must feel like like a
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bit of a hollow victory in way I know it
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was an interesting Vibe cuz like even
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though we lost we were quite excited and
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happy because we'd won the game and
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obviously they' lost their game but they
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still won the cup and I think there's
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the discussions are up there about
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whether we add a fifth game yeah deci
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makes sense yeah yeah but I mean like
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they well deserved that win because
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their goal differentials was a lot
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higher and wi you going and that was the
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nature of the of the cup so we need to
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make sure next time if we do lose we
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can't lose by heaps like that but yeah
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hopefully on the cards we can add
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another game and then make it a um tight
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deciding game um but yeah that will just
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add add to the time that we're away from
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home as well and add to the load but
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yeah I guess we get to do this because
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we're fortunate enough to play in that
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black dress so what's an extra game yeah
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and then and then what happens after the
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game uh as I said it's Monday morning
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we're recording this at 9:30 you're
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looking
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amazing hasn't been an all nighter
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clearly no no um luckily because it was
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an early game last night quite a lot of
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um the girls jumped on early flights to
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go home like I've mentioned it's been a
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massive um month for us um and also this
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time these moms and the team have been
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away from their kids for a while so
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everybody just wanted to get home um so
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pretty much most of the team jumped on
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the on planes earlier to go home um a
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couple of us stayed behind for some
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other things but yeah usually after game
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everybody's so tired just want to go
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home have a really good feed and get
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into bed cuz generally we've got late
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games so we don't get to bed by like
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until 11: wow I thought you'd be out for
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like a team dinner or some celebratory
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drinks or something is it not not like
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that um sometimes it's like sometimes
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yeah depends on the vibe um I think we
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spend so much time together that having
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an extra dinner is not necessarily what
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everybody's wanting at that time
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everybody just wants to get back to
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their significant others and and their
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family so um yeah I think we've seen
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enough of each other this year to not
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want to add to that yeah yeah well
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speaking of significant others so um
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you're sort of famously single um it
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feels like it it's become like a I don't
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know like a footnote in the in the Cen
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bger story but um I believe there might
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be there might be someone simmering oh
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gosh uh now your your teammate and
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friend Maya Wilson I I oh my God I
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tapped into her for some um she's been
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on the podcast previously and I tapped
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into her for some info and she said well
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I mean I I know the story that she told
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me but obviously there's two sides story
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every you look
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embarrassed obviously there's two sides
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through every story so I'm K to hear
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your version of events um key words
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Christ Church
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coryland god um yeah oh gosh um I guess
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yeah big 30 single um I'm a little bit
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picky um I think it's with more with my
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time more so than anything else um that
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unless I really feel like there's
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something or that I feel like I'm in the
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right place personally quite often it's
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not to do with other person but me as
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well um I don't want to drain my energy
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and I'm a firm believer of the right
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person at the right time will happen so
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I'll just wait for that to happen but
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yeah um the team's always trying to play
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Cupid um with me which is really cute uh
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is it annoy is it is it cute or is it
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annoying annoying sometimes uh no
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they've only got my best interest at
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heart um so I don't mind that um and I
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guess I'm a big enough girl to be like
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no stop now so um no it's really cute
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but yeah gosh the latest one um yeah
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it's just a uh we had a lady that was a
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it's a massive netball supporter um and
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she's beautiful she still sends me
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messages it's really cool um and I think
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she probably just asked in the team
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who's single because she's got a son
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then
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that's also single so try to play
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matchmaker there yeah that's probably as
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far as I'll go the moment because that's
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as far as it's gotten can I fill in some
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of the some of the blanks according to
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my award oh gosh yeah sure so apparently
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you guys are in the lounge sitting as a
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team and this this woman comes over and
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she's like who's single who's single my
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son's single which one of you guys are
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single so it's like she just wanted a
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netballer not necessarily zoning in on
00:10:26
Karen burger and then and then you made
00:10:29
you follow her son on Instagram and he's
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a doctor or a radiologist well we
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haven't followed each other but um oh I
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heard there was a couple of DMS that
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have gone big we've messaged yeah but um
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again like busy schedule you know like
00:10:42
you mentioned he's a doctor so he's busy
00:10:44
as well but yeah it's I mean it's it's
00:10:47
one of those stories if it ends up if it
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ends up I mean the chance is very slim
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that it's it's going to end up being you
00:10:52
know your soulmate but in the event that
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it is it's a hell of a meat
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K look to be honest at this point point
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the people how I meet people are quite
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interesting um I'm not overly social um
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and that's what my mom and my sister
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always tells me you can't sit at home
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and expect to meet the right guy so and
00:11:12
I'm also fussy about um social media I'm
00:11:16
old school in that way I like being
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approached either in person um or just
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not on social media but I know that's
00:11:23
the way things go these days so um it's
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more so about how they approach me on
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social media as as well which sometimes
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can throw me off or not so how do you
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mean what throws you off I think it's
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how uh like if you go directly into my
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looks or like that kind of stuff I don't
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yeah if the first comment on a DM is
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something superficial it's yeah yeah so
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it's all about how you he talked to me
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in the first instance as well whether
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I'll give you that attention or not so
00:11:54
you you seem you seem incredibly um self
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assured like where does this come from
00:11:59
I don't mean that in a in a negative way
00:12:01
either I think it's a good thing yeah um
00:12:04
it can be a good and a bad thing
00:12:06
sometimes um I'm guessing a lot of
00:12:09
people find it intimidating that's what
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I've heard and I think that's probably
00:12:13
also why I probably am single at this
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point um I've like heaps of my guy
00:12:19
friends tell me that I come across quite
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intimidating which is like like I'm
00:12:23
really not um but yeah I think it's just
00:12:27
part of it has got to do with having
00:12:29
moved to New Zealand um at 18 and having
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to you know just fight my own way and
00:12:34
find my own way and um being alone quite
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often you just have to be comfortable
00:12:39
with yourself and spending that time
00:12:41
with yourself um I mean raised um by m
00:12:44
and dad in a way that we were able to go
00:12:47
out and do that kind of thing and just
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want the most out of life and be self
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assured in ourselves um and know who we
00:12:53
are and be happy with ourselves
00:12:55
regardless of what the outside world
00:12:57
sees or does so um yeah fortunate to
00:13:00
have had that upbringing um I mean the
00:13:02
person I was when I first moved to New
00:13:03
Zealand is completely different who I am
00:13:05
now um yeah I've I've heard you refer to
00:13:08
yourself as being sort of shy and
00:13:09
introverted yes very years ago but I
00:13:12
mean you go you go through a lot of
00:13:13
growing up in your 20s don't you yeah
00:13:14
I'm look to be honest I'm I would still
00:13:16
say I am shy
00:13:18
um uh yeah it's a bit of a a balance
00:13:22
thing for me I would still say I'm shy
00:13:24
at times um but definitely have grown up
00:13:27
quite a lot since I probably when I
00:13:29
first moved I would not have spoken
00:13:31
unless it was spoken to me I would just
00:13:33
like hide in the corners I wouldn't want
00:13:34
to do anything um whereas now I try and
00:13:37
put myself out there I've realized over
00:13:39
the last few year or like over the years
00:13:41
that I've been in New Zealand any
00:13:42
opportunity is a great opportunity so I
00:13:43
have to put myself out there even though
00:13:45
it puts me in an uncomfortable position
00:13:47
sometimes so um and that's worked well
00:13:49
for me so yeah well let's play enough
00:13:53
about your dating life we can we can
00:13:54
move move on but have you been in love
00:13:55
before have you had a relationship a
00:13:57
long-term relationship before yeah um I
00:13:59
mean when I was a lot a lot younger I
00:14:02
think since being in New Zealand I
00:14:04
haven't had a long-term relationship um
00:14:06
really but you moved here when you were
00:14:07
18 yeah I know that's single for a very
00:14:10
long time isn't it um no I've like
00:14:13
talked to people here and there but
00:14:15
never like I mentioned the time and
00:14:17
especially with Nall being so busy I
00:14:20
just never had the time to really um
00:14:22
want to spend that um on a significant
00:14:25
other I think I was really just focusing
00:14:27
on myself but yeah back in the day I had
00:14:30
at high school I had a a partner for
00:14:32
well boyfri for three years um yeah and
00:14:36
then before I moved to New Zealand I had
00:14:38
a long-distance relationship for about a
00:14:40
year or so and just ended up um having
00:14:43
to end that because he had a life in
00:14:44
South Africa I had life in New Zealand I
00:14:46
just didn't see that working or going
00:14:47
anywhere so yeah we ended that and yeah
00:14:51
ever since it's just been me grinding
00:14:53
away by myself so but the right person
00:14:56
will come at the right time 100% yeah um
00:14:58
something else Maya Wilson said us that
00:15:00
you she described you as a Shopaholic
00:15:02
and she said wherever she said um and
00:15:04
she even said um pretty much every city
00:15:07
you go to a Pat from in
00:15:08
Vago yeah apologies inago gosh um like
00:15:13
um because I am just me I don't have
00:15:16
kids to take care of I don't have a
00:15:17
partner or anything so pretty much the
00:15:19
money I have I can spend on myself so I
00:15:21
was like um I'm very big on budgeting
00:15:24
though like I know I spend um but I make
00:15:27
sure that I can spend the money that I
00:15:29
do spend um so this time around I took
00:15:33
an extra little hand luggage you would
00:15:35
have seen me coming in this morning with
00:15:37
my extra little um roller case yeah
00:15:39
there's chicken suitcase and carryon
00:15:41
yeah what did you buy yeah so the
00:15:43
carry-on was empty when I left um yeah I
00:15:47
oh gosh what I what did I buy um I
00:15:50
bought the shoes I'm wearing uh I bought
00:15:53
some boots uh I bought a dress I'm going
00:15:56
to the races in November in Christ
00:15:57
Church uh bought a summer
00:16:00
dress gosh I bought some face products
00:16:04
yeah anything and everything really God
00:16:07
you must be exhausted by the time the
00:16:08
game plays you Caren oh she's been
00:16:11
shopping all day that's my therapy
00:16:13
though like I even though I don't buy
00:16:15
anything it's just nice to get out of
00:16:16
the house um and just get amongst people
00:16:19
and in the shops and things uh it's just
00:16:22
my retail therapy yeah oh fair enough
00:16:25
yeah right say so let's go let's go all
00:16:27
the way back um um back into the early
00:16:29
days of Karen Burger so tell me about
00:16:32
South Africa where are you from you're
00:16:33
from like a small Country Town yeah um I
00:16:35
usually just say Cape Town but it's a
00:16:37
few hours away though yeah about a
00:16:39
three-hour drive but it's like
00:16:42
three-hour drive up the West Coast um
00:16:44
quite a small town um went to an even
00:16:48
smaller town from that town primary
00:16:51
school because Mom was my first grade um
00:16:54
teacher she's a the a teacher for the
00:16:56
first grades there um Prim Primary
00:16:58
School in a very small town slightly
00:17:00
bigger town for high school um but all
00:17:03
my sports and everything was pretty much
00:17:05
in Cape Town every weekend so um spent a
00:17:08
lot of time in that area um so I'm quite
00:17:11
familiar with that area as well what's
00:17:13
what's I've never been to South Africa
00:17:15
but um one thing one of the first things
00:17:17
that that gets sort of bought up is um
00:17:19
just how how violent and unsafe the
00:17:21
place is in terms of car jackings and
00:17:22
stuff is that your experience um I think
00:17:25
it get a bad R yeah yeah I think growing
00:17:28
up there um it's just you know what to
00:17:31
do and what not to do and I think if you
00:17:34
stick to those rules you're quite all
00:17:36
right sometimes you can be a bit unlucky
00:17:38
at times um but since living in New
00:17:41
Zealand I have realized how bad it can
00:17:44
get um and how amazing it can be um and
00:17:48
going back home I do real I definitely
00:17:51
notice it's ramped up in the last few
00:17:53
years as well um when I speak to my
00:17:55
family again I realize how South
00:17:57
Africans that live there just so used to
00:17:59
it that they don't necessarily know how
00:18:02
bad it can be um but for it's an amazing
00:18:05
place I love going there on holiday um
00:18:08
again if you go with the right people
00:18:09
and you know what to do and what not to
00:18:11
do it's it's all right it's all good um
00:18:15
but yeah it's definitely a sense of
00:18:16
having to look over your shoulder uh
00:18:19
quite often yeah although like and
00:18:20
saying that just while you were giving
00:18:22
that answer I mean you know new New
00:18:23
Zealand we're not entirely safe anymore
00:18:25
anyway are we there's you know Ram raids
00:18:27
all the time and yeah we got our own
00:18:29
issues I think every country has their
00:18:31
positives and negatives and like my
00:18:33
sister I know she loves the country
00:18:35
itself it's beautiful um and the people
00:18:38
like she's especially saying with the
00:18:40
Rugby World Cup at the moment it's
00:18:41
amazing how rugby can bring everybody
00:18:43
together and how um supportive everyone
00:18:46
is at the moment in The Vibes in South
00:18:47
Africa at the moment over there so it
00:18:49
definitely has its positives don't get
00:18:51
me wrong so it's not it's not the worst
00:18:53
country yeah well by the time this
00:18:55
podcast comes out it's going to be old
00:18:56
news but yeah theug World Cup final is
00:18:59
next weekend it's New Zealand South
00:19:00
Africa um one one country you were born
00:19:03
in it's been 18 years one country that
00:19:05
you've represented and Sport for the
00:19:06
last five years and spent 12 years and
00:19:08
who who are you who do you root for yeah
00:19:11
I've heard this quite often um over the
00:19:13
last couple of weeks um people keep
00:19:15
asking me that too um I think values
00:19:19
wise and morals wise um I can't justify
00:19:23
not am supporting the All Blacks I live
00:19:25
in a country I play for the country
00:19:28
represent the country I benefit from the
00:19:30
country so for that reason I would
00:19:33
support the All Blacks but um obviously
00:19:36
have that little piece of heart with
00:19:38
South Africa so I won't be gutted if
00:19:40
they do wi either it makes the game
00:19:42
quite fun because regardless of what the
00:19:44
outcome is you're going to be a happy
00:19:45
exactly I know we were watching we had
00:19:48
our training when South Africa was
00:19:49
playing their um semifinal um the other
00:19:53
day and it was such an intense game we
00:19:56
were just stra or like finishing at
00:19:58
tying our shoelaces and getting ready
00:19:59
and I think MAA or Tiana put up the
00:20:02
story um about us watching that last few
00:20:05
minutes of that game and how we
00:20:07
celebrated and everybody got in on it as
00:20:09
well like I mean they're not even South
00:20:10
African supporters but they um got into
00:20:13
it as well so yeah really felt the love
00:20:15
from the team there yeah well I I think
00:20:17
anyone just really likes watching like a
00:20:19
good game of rugby and um we've been
00:20:20
spoiled with him the last couple of
00:20:21
weeks in those quarterfinal games and
00:20:23
then that that game against England the
00:20:24
semi-final game that was just phenomenal
00:20:27
was remarkable South deserve to win it
00:20:29
was ex the performances out in the Rugby
00:20:31
World Cup has has been amazing so um
00:20:34
yeah it's been an exciting World Cup
00:20:36
yeah so what do you like in South Africa
00:20:38
as a as a young girl you were a high
00:20:40
jumper eh I was yeah well small town so
00:20:43
there wasn't many options to do in terms
00:20:46
of um sport uh but I try to do as much
00:20:49
as I possibly can um my two like main
00:20:53
ones were in the winter neat ball and in
00:20:55
the summer was high jump um but
00:20:58
gosh I played tennis I did a bit of
00:21:01
gymnastics if there was any dance
00:21:03
classes I would go do that um and I
00:21:05
think when I was about
00:21:07
14 uh I tore uh my cartilage in my knee
00:21:11
and I had to have an operation and at
00:21:13
that point mom was like right I know you
00:21:15
love doing all this stuff but I think
00:21:17
we're overdoing it a little bit with
00:21:19
your body you need to pick and choose
00:21:20
what you want to do so at that point I
00:21:21
was like right okay in the winter I'll
00:21:23
do neat ball in the summer I'll do um
00:21:25
high jump and I loved high jump it was
00:21:27
so good but it's a very individual sport
00:21:29
um anybody in athletics will probably be
00:21:31
able to tell you that it's a good
00:21:33
Community um don't get me wrong but you
00:21:36
when you're competing it's pretty much
00:21:37
you just you so I sort of L A little bit
00:21:41
more towards the netball the team sport
00:21:43
yeah how did how did you how did you
00:21:44
mess up your knee at the age of 14 like
00:21:46
um a cartilage tear that sounds like an
00:21:48
older person's injury doesn't it yeah I
00:21:50
know um well apparently according to the
00:21:52
doctor because of the high jump the
00:21:54
constant like landing and twisting on
00:21:56
the leg and then the the neet balls that
00:21:59
constant like jarring on the knees um
00:22:02
and I guess at that age you don't really
00:22:04
do much prehab rehab kind of stuff so um
00:22:08
which when you get older you sort of
00:22:10
regret a little bit but yeah I think
00:22:12
just overdoing it a little bit too much
00:22:14
on everything um and not managing myself
00:22:17
well enough at that age but yeah they're
00:22:20
holding up so far yeah oh listen you
00:22:22
played your 50th game for New Zealand
00:22:24
last night you're doing the old knes are
00:22:26
doing just fine so did they did they
00:22:28
operate at the time did they like scrape
00:22:30
you out clean you out yeah well funny
00:22:31
enough because at that age they were
00:22:32
like you're quite young we don't want to
00:22:34
take any of it out so they tried to just
00:22:36
Stitch it up and see if they can
00:22:38
obviously there's not much blood flow to
00:22:40
that area so it was going to be a risk
00:22:42
whether it was going to work or not but
00:22:44
it ended up working um but over the
00:22:46
years the last few years especially
00:22:49
they've got you know damage to them
00:22:51
again I've got a few tear here or there
00:22:53
but not significant enough for me to
00:22:55
have to do anything about it so it's
00:22:57
just managing them really yeah cuz I I
00:23:00
was knowing that you were coming around
00:23:01
today I watched the game last yesterday
00:23:03
afternoon under a different sort of lens
00:23:05
I guess and in particular like focusing
00:23:07
on you and um yeah there's there's a lot
00:23:09
of jumping around isn't
00:23:11
there and I was thinking about your
00:23:13
knees with every there's a lot of
00:23:15
impacts I mean it's it's remarkable that
00:23:17
you've that you've had and continue to
00:23:19
have the career that you have um given
00:23:21
this um this knee issue at the age of 14
00:23:24
that could have that could have spelled
00:23:25
the end of any sort of like dreams or
00:23:26
hope really couldn't it yeah well at
00:23:28
that time when it did happen the doctor
00:23:30
did say look um as little as much sport
00:23:34
like if at all going forward and I was
00:23:37
like well that's not happening I was
00:23:39
determined to be like no that's
00:23:40
definitely not me um so I guess you just
00:23:44
get back on the grin you just have to
00:23:45
listen to your body um sometimes you can
00:23:48
do things sometimes you can't and I
00:23:50
think that's where physios and doctors
00:23:51
come in quite well they know what every
00:23:53
individual is capable of doing or what
00:23:55
they can't do uh unfortunately the way I
00:23:57
I play is quite hard on my knees and my
00:24:00
ankles um but I'm going to do it for as
00:24:02
long as I can um as much as I can until
00:24:05
the body gives in and then I'll go and
00:24:08
enjoy the rest of my life yeah and I I
00:24:10
think um yeah one thing that the um the
00:24:12
well- meaning medical experts can't
00:24:14
necessarily take into account is um
00:24:16
probably someone's like will or
00:24:18
determination so they can say oh you you
00:24:21
probably shouldn't do sport but it's
00:24:22
like they don't know you as an as a
00:24:24
person or what your mindset is their
00:24:25
mind is an amazing thing um and it's
00:24:28
helped me at times or the worst of times
00:24:31
um in times when you think you literally
00:24:33
can't do it anymore um it's really
00:24:35
pulled me through so I think that's the
00:24:37
aspect of sport where you really have to
00:24:39
hone in at times um and it doesn't
00:24:41
matter how good you're doing if you're
00:24:43
on that High um the lows do come um so
00:24:47
it's just being preparing yourself
00:24:49
because it's a roller coaster it really
00:24:51
is um and to dig yourself out of that
00:24:53
and stay on that high is is it's a tough
00:24:56
one it's quite hard yeah we will get
00:24:58
into all that stuff because there
00:24:58
definitely has been um some adversity in
00:25:00
the Karen Burger story hasn't there um I
00:25:03
mean one thing that Springs to mind I
00:25:05
guess is um the Commonwealth Games last
00:25:06
year where you had like an ankle injury
00:25:08
um that must have been devastating we'll
00:25:09
get into that um but yeah so you're
00:25:12
growing up in South Africa you you're
00:25:13
good at nitb are you great at
00:25:16
nitb yeah well um yeah I mean I made it
00:25:20
into the rap teams yes um I was being
00:25:24
selected in those teams so I I was all
00:25:26
right I was good
00:25:28
um it's quite hard sometimes I I don't
00:25:31
like talking too much about um um my
00:25:34
performances but yeah I the year before
00:25:38
I decided to move over um I just played
00:25:42
uh the under 21s the protate um Squad
00:25:45
had just had their trials I think it was
00:25:47
in December um and I got selected in the
00:25:50
group to go into the final final
00:25:53
trials but at that point I was like
00:25:56
right do I stick it out here or do I go
00:25:59
for this opportunity in New Zealand not
00:26:01
much offering for me in New Zealand but
00:26:03
what would have been what would have
00:26:04
been an easier as the South African
00:26:06
netball team as good as the Silver ferns
00:26:08
or not would it I guess what I'm asking
00:26:10
is would it have been easier for you to
00:26:12
stand in your home country and make your
00:26:13
national team there it's tough I really
00:26:16
take my head off to the the players that
00:26:18
do play for South Africa because up
00:26:21
until recently it was not a paid
00:26:23
position um and I know people that
00:26:27
played in the South Afric or know of
00:26:29
people that were studying for years and
00:26:31
years and years because they just
00:26:33
weren't flexible the Unis aren't as
00:26:35
flexible to be able to allow you to go
00:26:37
do that you can't maintain a job
00:26:40
necessarily um if you want to go do that
00:26:42
so it's just the grind is a lot harder
00:26:45
um I really take my head off to those
00:26:47
people and I think personally for the my
00:26:50
with my personality and the person that
00:26:52
I am I probably wouldn't have kept
00:26:53
playing a i state in South Africa um I
00:26:56
would have wanted to make a living I
00:26:58
would have wanted to be able to support
00:26:59
my family I would have wanted to have a
00:27:01
successful life and it just sounds like
00:27:04
it's really hard most of those starting
00:27:05
lineup players for the pro tiers play
00:27:07
overseas they go and play domestically
00:27:09
in another country and that's two lives
00:27:11
you're asking them to have one life in
00:27:13
one country for half of the year and
00:27:15
then you having me to go back to your
00:27:16
home country so um yeah it's a tough one
00:27:20
so so as ni more professional here than
00:27:22
what it is in South Africa definitely
00:27:24
100% do you guys get paid okay a match
00:27:27
fee or a salary how does it work yeah
00:27:29
look um there's always going to be the
00:27:32
drive to want to be paid more but coming
00:27:35
from a country that don't get paid at
00:27:37
all um I know how amazing it is and even
00:27:41
from when I started to where we are now
00:27:43
there's been increases so I'm not
00:27:46
complaining obviously striving for more
00:27:48
but um I'm quite happy it's it's easier
00:27:52
when you are playing for both domestic
00:27:54
and international you can make a living
00:27:56
out of it it's a bit harder when you
00:27:59
don't have that International salary and
00:28:01
you're having to find a job that only
00:28:02
does half the year because the first
00:28:05
half of the year you're pretty much in
00:28:06
your domestic season so you're away from
00:28:08
work quite a lot so it's a little bit
00:28:11
harder so do does some of the does some
00:28:13
of the girls have jobs um I don't think
00:28:16
anybody in the ferns at the moment have
00:28:17
any jobs maybe some contract work here
00:28:19
or there just to take them over um but
00:28:23
domestically yes um there's a lot of
00:28:25
girls and and that's also how the
00:28:28
schedule for the domestic teams have to
00:28:30
adjust to allow those players to have a
00:28:32
job um because as great as it is to be
00:28:35
playing and being paid for netball they
00:28:37
still need to have a life outside of
00:28:39
netb and they still need that job so we
00:28:40
need to accommodate them as well yeah
00:28:42
absolutely okay so so so when does the
00:28:45
seed get planted about you moving to New
00:28:47
Zealand I I heard it was like a secret
00:28:49
from your dad yeah you bounc the idea of
00:28:51
your mom and it happened really quickly
00:28:54
look um I was in my last year of school
00:28:57
school um and around like June July I
00:29:02
think my uncle and Aunt who live here
00:29:03
it's Mom's cousin um they went to visit
00:29:06
they've been living in New Zealand for
00:29:08
more than 20 years now and we were in
00:29:10
Cape Town one day and mom was like right
00:29:12
well my cousins over from New Zealand
00:29:15
they're at the airport at the moment
00:29:16
they're literally just about to go back
00:29:18
to New Zealand let's just go say hi so
00:29:21
we went to the airport had a chat as
00:29:23
moms do you know they boast about their
00:29:26
kids and they me that I play netball and
00:29:29
um yeah my uncle was like oh well why
00:29:32
don't you send her over let her come
00:29:33
stay with us for a year I thought this
00:29:36
was a joke like we just went about life
00:29:39
for the next month or what started
00:29:41
applying for universities for the
00:29:43
following
00:29:44
year applied for some scholarships
00:29:46
because I would have needed a
00:29:47
scholarship um didn't hear anything from
00:29:50
the Unis you can and South Africa can
00:29:53
literally wait till the last minute
00:29:54
before you hear anything so by like o
00:29:57
October um I wasn't sure what was
00:29:59
happening the following year and then my
00:30:01
uncle messaged mom he was like no but
00:30:03
we're serious like are you sending her
00:30:05
over um and at that point we're like
00:30:07
right well we've got nothing to lose um
00:30:10
uh dad is a little bit harder to
00:30:12
convince sometimes with these big
00:30:13
decisions in life why because he's
00:30:15
protective or were you a daddy girl or
00:30:18
yeah well um oh he's just he loves
00:30:22
security and not necessarily taking too
00:30:26
many risks
00:30:27
um that's when Mom's a good balance for
00:30:30
him because Mom quite like taking those
00:30:32
risks um and so we knew it's was going
00:30:35
to take a while um to get dad across
00:30:37
that line but this is the funny thing
00:30:40
with Dad we're always like it starts out
00:30:42
with he would argue against it like
00:30:44
we'll say something and he'll completely
00:30:46
argue against it but the more you talk
00:30:47
about it eventually he just he just
00:30:49
listens he won't argue anymore he'll
00:30:52
just listen and then he gets to the
00:30:54
point where he starts agreeing and he
00:30:55
starts talking with so so um I think we
00:30:59
fast-tracked that process a little bit
00:31:01
um so we did all of that stuff in the
00:31:03
background did all the Visas and
00:31:04
everything that needed to be done and um
00:31:07
we started talking about it not that I
00:31:10
was going but that there's a possibility
00:31:12
that you know it might be quite nice and
00:31:15
I don't think we told him till about
00:31:17
like a month before I left like no this
00:31:18
is actually happening now and for that
00:31:21
first two or three years whenever mom
00:31:23
would miss me or I'd be homesick or
00:31:25
anything um he would just be like no you
00:31:28
wanted to send her there you guys
00:31:30
decided to do this so don't s and cry
00:31:32
about it now so but I mean he's one of
00:31:34
my biggest supporters now um like he
00:31:37
wouldn't want it any other way so he's
00:31:39
proud of me he supported me don't get me
00:31:41
wrong um he was a bit about two in two
00:31:44
minds about the whole thing but he
00:31:46
supported me regardless um and now that
00:31:49
you know there's some success story
00:31:51
behind it um yeah he's I guess he's
00:31:53
pretty proud yeah I mean well you look
00:31:55
you look back and um everything worked
00:31:57
out fine and it's working out fine but
00:31:59
um yeah as I alluded to before tough
00:32:02
[ __ ] grind tough grind so so so you
00:32:04
come here was you didn't have like laser
00:32:08
point focus on the silver FS you were
00:32:09
just here to have a good time and yeah
00:32:11
look to be honest um everybody's got a
00:32:14
dream it was never a goal it was a dream
00:32:17
um and with a dream you don't
00:32:18
necessarily think that it is um possible
00:32:21
so I was like it would be amazing to
00:32:23
play for the silver F but I never made
00:32:25
it a goal um
00:32:27
I've tried changing my mind over the or
00:32:30
my way of thinking over the years where
00:32:32
I don't like to um put too much
00:32:36
attention um on something that because
00:32:38
if it doesn't work I don't like that
00:32:41
disappointment feeling um but I've had
00:32:43
to change that because to reach those
00:32:44
high things you have to put a lot of
00:32:46
time and effort into it so at that point
00:32:48
I was like I'm just here I'm just trying
00:32:50
to enjoy my life um I joined a local
00:32:53
Club who to this day um like a family to
00:32:56
me the of supporters love them all um so
00:33:00
pretty much joined the local club and I
00:33:02
just played they gave me opportunities
00:33:04
they sent me to rap stuff like I my raw
00:33:07
skills coming over I was not the best
00:33:10
net baller I had so much to learn like
00:33:14
my club coach benched me at times I got
00:33:17
in put into second teams and I didn't
00:33:19
make it into um rep teams for years you
00:33:22
know it it it wasn't easy but I decided
00:33:26
to BU life for myself outside and have
00:33:28
other things to focus on I had studies
00:33:30
outside of of netball I tried to work
00:33:33
wherever I could I had to work um to
00:33:35
support myself um so yeah it was a it
00:33:39
was a really tough grind but along the
00:33:41
journey I met the most amazing people
00:33:43
that that I still talk to too this day
00:33:46
that um have meant a lot to me and have
00:33:48
helped me throughout that process so um
00:33:51
it's been a fun Journey yeah so what
00:33:54
those first couple of years look like
00:33:56
because like I'm a Imaging if I was in
00:33:57
your position you're on the other side
00:33:58
of the world you're so far away from
00:34:00
home every time there's some sort of
00:34:02
hurdle or obstacle or adversity you must
00:34:04
feel so homesick yeah um what were you
00:34:08
doing in those early years you found a
00:34:10
job yes well my first job was here on a
00:34:12
visitor's visa and you're not allowed to
00:34:14
work or do anything or study or anything
00:34:16
so I pretty much just enjoyed that year
00:34:19
just try to you know see what New
00:34:21
Zealand's like and just experience it um
00:34:24
and then I had this Sera sit down with
00:34:26
mom over
00:34:27
Skype um at the end of that year and
00:34:29
she's like right what's happening over
00:34:31
there are you enjoying it how what's
00:34:33
happening I was like Mom I'm really
00:34:35
enjoying it but at that moment in time I
00:34:37
knew what it was going to cost for me to
00:34:39
stay in New Zealand um and I'm like
00:34:42
we're not the wealthiest of families
00:34:45
like you know just an average Joe family
00:34:47
so I knew that if I wanted to stay I
00:34:49
would have had to go study and
00:34:50
international study cost is astronomical
00:34:54
um where especially in our eyes at that
00:34:56
time so so I was like Mom I really love
00:34:58
it here but I'm not going to put that on
00:35:00
you cuz I know it costs a lot and she's
00:35:02
like We're going to make this work
00:35:04
obviously they had to go um get some
00:35:08
money somewhere um put themselves in
00:35:10
debt a little bit and that's why to this
00:35:12
day I'm not doing what I do just for
00:35:14
myself I do it for my family as well
00:35:16
because they offered up so much for me
00:35:18
to be here and do what I do so at that
00:35:21
point I was like great I can go study I
00:35:23
was like we're going to make this work
00:35:24
so my first year of studies um I joined
00:35:27
the Institute of Sports and I was like I
00:35:29
need to work extremely hard because I
00:35:30
need a scholarship the next year I can't
00:35:32
let my mom and dad have to put up any
00:35:35
more money for me so I worked my butt
00:35:38
off to try and um get the best grades I
00:35:40
think I got distinction that year um and
00:35:43
I had to work as much as I possibly
00:35:45
could because I didn't want to ask them
00:35:46
for any more money because I um they
00:35:49
already spent too much money on me so I
00:35:51
had to work for the money I had um mean
00:35:54
I was working at meca on Sunday just to
00:35:57
afford my train tickets for the week um
00:35:59
going in and out of the Hut in
00:36:01
Wellington so um but it's character
00:36:03
building I mean I wouldn't take that
00:36:05
back for anything uh I learned a lot
00:36:08
about myself and what it cost to be
00:36:10
where I am um and then I guess after the
00:36:12
studies it just turned into work
00:36:14
placements um I built the right
00:36:16
connections the place where I studied
00:36:18
offered me a job so um yeah it was it
00:36:21
was a tough first five years in New
00:36:24
Zealand oh that's such a great story
00:36:27
that's such a great story talk about
00:36:29
um yeah I don't know added stress or
00:36:32
added motivation to make it work like
00:36:33
when you've got your parents with skin
00:36:35
in the game like that what did they they
00:36:36
mortgage the house get a bank loan what
00:36:38
did they um yeah they put more money on
00:36:40
their home loan they put put more money
00:36:42
on the mortgage and I think Dad um I
00:36:46
think he approached one of his mates or
00:36:48
something who's a massive supporter of
00:36:50
me too um and so I mean still paying
00:36:52
those off really yeah yeah it was a big
00:36:55
amount um
00:36:57
so and that's why whenever I can however
00:37:00
I can um I support whichever way
00:37:03
possible they they don't like asking for
00:37:06
help ever um but that's a great thing I
00:37:09
think I was talking to my mom this
00:37:10
morning as well our family are quite
00:37:12
tighten it and we're happy to help
00:37:14
wherever we can we never ask but we
00:37:16
always offer um and I'm quite fortunate
00:37:19
to be in that situation I know there's a
00:37:21
lot of people that don't have those kind
00:37:22
of family situations so yeah I love them
00:37:26
to bits
00:37:27
man that's a hell of a story wow that's
00:37:30
really really cool but also so much
00:37:31
pressure at that young age do you look
00:37:34
back now from the lens of a 30-year old
00:37:35
woman and think so I'm guessing then you
00:37:37
were 1920 like if you had your time
00:37:39
again you you'd probably be like don't
00:37:41
borrow the money oh my gosh I uh that's
00:37:44
why it's so amazing that those kind of
00:37:47
decisions only happen once um and again
00:37:50
it goes back to me the way things are
00:37:52
supposed to happen it will happen uh as
00:37:54
long as I put my best effort fo forward
00:37:57
and I do the best I can um whatever
00:38:00
needs to happen will happen so if I know
00:38:02
I've done I've given it my all and it
00:38:04
doesn't happen it wasn't supposed to um
00:38:07
and if whatever happens there's always
00:38:09
doors that open and closes so I love
00:38:13
opportunities I grab them or whenever
00:38:15
they come my way um whether they're good
00:38:18
or bad or whether they work out or not I
00:38:21
meet people along the way that then puts
00:38:23
me in other directions so that was an
00:38:26
opportunity that I grabbed that my um
00:38:28
Family helped me with um and it was
00:38:31
amazing This World Cup was in South
00:38:33
Africa in August July August um and this
00:38:36
was the first time um since leaving home
00:38:39
where I had my whole family that was
00:38:40
supporting me on the sidelines and there
00:38:42
were so vocal I think they probably
00:38:45
enjoyed the whole process or the whole
00:38:47
thing more than I did um and I think
00:38:49
that was important for me to to show
00:38:51
them my Thanksgiving and give back to
00:38:53
them as much as I possibly could um and
00:38:56
whenever they talk about coming to visit
00:38:58
to New Zealand um I'm like stoked
00:39:01
because they've only ever been here once
00:39:03
all of them um always trying and
00:39:05
convince them to move over but I know
00:39:07
it's a big move for them they got the
00:39:09
whole family so um that's a dream of
00:39:13
mine to have them all here um but we'll
00:39:16
see how that goes play like Karen we
00:39:18
can't afford it we gave you that
00:39:20
money yeah I know right so I was like I
00:39:23
need to find ways I need to make a
00:39:25
success I need to find ways to to help
00:39:28
them to support them because I know um a
00:39:32
lot of them are Keen my brother he's
00:39:33
very keen um to move over but um again
00:39:38
it's almost like a package deal um I'm
00:39:41
quite fortunate and sometimes I do feel
00:39:43
a little bit guilty being here because
00:39:46
I'm the one that left and I'm the one
00:39:48
that gets to benefit and enjoy the life
00:39:51
that I have now um and as much as they
00:39:53
all want to move they're all like but we
00:39:55
don't want to go without each each other
00:39:57
and so um at times I do feel a little
00:40:01
bit guilty for being here by myself but
00:40:04
um like my uncle who also made that big
00:40:06
move themselves like someone needs to
00:40:08
make that move to open the doors for
00:40:10
others so um why why do you can you
00:40:13
explain that or elaborate on that about
00:40:15
why do you why do you feel guilty um I
00:40:18
think it is because I mean they put so
00:40:21
much time and effort and money into me
00:40:24
being here and I get to enjoy it
00:40:27
um and I know if they could they'd move
00:40:30
tomorrow um but obviously there's like
00:40:34
the age with Mom and Dad's age coming to
00:40:37
play um money side definitely is massive
00:40:40
coming to play um and they've got
00:40:43
families now like I moved at a time
00:40:45
where it was just me and they supported
00:40:48
me to do that whereas they've all got
00:40:49
families to support so it's a big
00:40:52
decision it's so much harder for them to
00:40:54
be able to make that move um and it's
00:40:57
just that constant support from them to
00:40:58
be able to allow me to do this I'm quite
00:41:00
grateful that I get to be in this
00:41:02
position and even though they want to
00:41:04
they're not necessarily in a position
00:41:05
too so I'll try my best to do the most I
00:41:09
can to help support them to do that now
00:41:11
yeah and also you I mean you you say
00:41:13
you're the one that gets to enjoy it but
00:41:16
[ __ ] it wasn't an easy rad like it was
00:41:18
you were here seven years before you
00:41:19
made the silver ferns like were there
00:41:22
times where you thought about like
00:41:23
tapping out um and going back or not not
00:41:25
really the first three or four years um
00:41:30
because we're such a tight-knit family
00:41:31
and um whenever anything happens I'm
00:41:34
immediately on the phone to mom or my
00:41:36
sister um to talk through the through it
00:41:39
with them and because we're such a
00:41:42
tightnit
00:41:43
family I really missed that element of
00:41:46
it um and so whenever I missed home or
00:41:50
just needed somebody around me or things
00:41:52
just weren't going my way or things were
00:41:54
just too hard I did consider I was like
00:41:57
is this where I pull the plug is this
00:41:58
where I go home but then I just reminded
00:42:01
myself no they've put the time and
00:42:03
effort into me being here this isn't
00:42:05
going to be forever um I was determined
00:42:08
to do something with my life here um and
00:42:11
so I just suck it out or like sucked it
00:42:14
up and just kept going um with the
00:42:18
support obviously from them um and I
00:42:20
think it wasn't until I started playing
00:42:23
AZ leville and I started seeing the
00:42:25
results that I was like okay no I can I
00:42:28
think I can I can do this now you just
00:42:30
get enough enough of a taste of success
00:42:32
to know that you're on the right track
00:42:33
sort of thing exactly yeah what did you
00:42:36
have a plan B like you said you were
00:42:38
studying before what were you what were
00:42:40
you studying for well at that point I
00:42:41
just studied um uh towards a sports
00:42:44
science degree um but it was pretty much
00:42:48
just something to tick me over um and
00:42:50
keep the brain ticking over and it was
00:42:52
something that I was interested at that
00:42:53
time um but I'm gonna go back into
00:42:57
studies next year um I've discovered a
00:43:00
new interest in nutrition um which I
00:43:03
really love and I think that's the tough
00:43:05
thing about being a netballer is having
00:43:09
something else after netball and
00:43:11
preparing yourself for it as well
00:43:12
because the end is going to come it's
00:43:14
inevitable exactly and it's either going
00:43:15
to come if you're very lucky it's going
00:43:17
to come on your own terbs otherwise it's
00:43:18
you're going to be you're going to be
00:43:19
dumped or you going to be injured
00:43:21
exactly so that's why there's this
00:43:23
constant thing in the back of my mind I
00:43:25
need to work on that kind of stuff as
00:43:27
well and so but I also want to do
00:43:29
something that I enjoy and that I would
00:43:31
want to do I don't want to just have to
00:43:33
get up every morning and go do a job
00:43:34
because I have to I want to do it
00:43:36
because I love it and I want to and so
00:43:38
it took me a while to find something
00:43:40
that I'm actually interested in doing um
00:43:43
and it wasn't until my injury last year
00:43:45
that I got some downtime and I got to
00:43:48
reflect a little bit on things and Chang
00:43:50
a few things and how I do um like with
00:43:53
things about my own nutrition and that's
00:43:55
where that spark and started interesting
00:43:57
me about what nutrition and what how the
00:44:00
food supplements the body and and what
00:44:02
it does and so that's where I was like I
00:44:05
think this is something I can do um so
00:44:07
yeah I'm going back into studies next
00:44:08
year 30y old going back into studies
00:44:11
trying to do it Part Time mixing it with
00:44:13
neall as well so I don't know how you f
00:44:15
everything
00:44:16
in
00:44:18
um uh look because of the grind that I
00:44:21
did my first few years um I pretty much
00:44:25
got up in the morning 5:00 a.m. to go to
00:44:28
the gym um to make it to school on time
00:44:32
and then at lunchtimes I might do some
00:44:35
personal training sessions go back to
00:44:37
school after school I always had work um
00:44:41
trainings in the evening so my days were
00:44:43
very long back when I used to do the
00:44:45
grind so nothing is is too much for me
00:44:48
anymore um actually I feel guilty
00:44:52
sometimes when I'm sitting at home not
00:44:54
doing anything on a day off I'm like why
00:44:56
am I just sitting doing nothing I could
00:44:57
be doing something right now um but I
00:45:00
also want to try and get myself into the
00:45:02
mentality of I need to enjoy this while
00:45:03
I have it as well so yeah uh it's it's
00:45:08
easier now because of what I've been
00:45:10
through wow that's really
00:45:12
inspiring geez like yeah I
00:45:15
mean I mean the fact that you came here
00:45:17
and you worked you worked so hard to get
00:45:19
to where you are today it's really cool
00:45:21
like there must have been so many so
00:45:22
many points along the along the way
00:45:24
where you thought about giving up or you
00:45:25
wondered if you're on the right track
00:45:27
and um so much pressure on your
00:45:28
shoulders as well support system
00:45:31
honestly um I wouldn't have been able to
00:45:33
do it without the support system the
00:45:35
right people um to encourage you at
00:45:39
times um or the right people to tell you
00:45:43
when you're being um too much or when
00:45:46
you're not doing too much um especially
00:45:49
now and throughout my nickb career as
00:45:51
well um when you're just feeling a
00:45:53
little bit down yourself you just need
00:45:55
that support to system to be like no you
00:45:57
can do this or sometimes when you're at
00:45:59
the top you're like don't get too cocky
00:46:01
you know you've got to um you know take
00:46:05
the situation enjoy it while you can but
00:46:07
there's lows coming as well so um your
00:46:10
support system is massive yeah so you
00:46:12
made your silver fins debut uh September
00:46:15
2018 so like 5 years ago so before that
00:46:18
you were in the like the Central pulks
00:46:20
and those a andz teams yeah and then is
00:46:23
that when you sort of came in the frame
00:46:24
of the selectors yeah I um funny enough
00:46:28
how
00:46:29
I I played Biv which is the development
00:46:32
right or now it's the Indian our league
00:46:34
um under the franchise um in
00:46:38
2016 um had a really good year that year
00:46:41
for me personally and um because of the
00:46:45
great year I actually got invited to a
00:46:47
ferns trials this is without being in a
00:46:50
franchise um and I didn't know that was
00:46:52
possible but um I hadn't played for
00:46:54
South Africa so it's not like I was was
00:46:55
bound to having played with him and had
00:46:58
to sit out like four or five years so at
00:47:01
that point like no you're eligible so uh
00:47:04
I went to the ferns
00:47:06
trials and I think at that point a
00:47:09
franchise the pulse because why M matanu
00:47:12
was a big um influence or like a coach
00:47:16
for me at the pulse as well and so she
00:47:18
one day came up to me she's like you
00:47:20
know you're eligible for the fs and I
00:47:21
was like I wasn't even in the franchise
00:47:23
team at that point so I was like oh my
00:47:25
gosh I don't know this um but yeah so I
00:47:28
got invited to the fs trials just
00:47:29
experience I obviously saw it as nothing
00:47:31
else I just wanted to be out there
00:47:33
amongst the best um and then that's when
00:47:35
the pulse approached me because they put
00:47:37
up the argument well if the fs wanted to
00:47:40
sign gave you an opportunity to trial
00:47:42
for them for the country surely we
00:47:44
should be able to sign you as a domestic
00:47:46
player because at that point I was still
00:47:48
I was not a resident I was still on a
00:47:49
work visa um and so obviously they did
00:47:53
the the stuff up the top and um and
00:47:56
that's where I got my first contract so
00:47:58
I actually had a taste of of the ferns
00:48:00
before I I did franchise um but yeah
00:48:04
that's when it all started um and it was
00:48:06
a bit bit of a shock for me my first
00:48:08
year with the pulse because at that
00:48:10
point I'd been playing um you know
00:48:12
starting lineup getting heaps of court
00:48:14
time um and then I was behind the likes
00:48:16
of at that point Phoenix kataka and
00:48:18
Katrina R now um you know I had an
00:48:21
amazing team with K Kat L was on our
00:48:23
team Sarah Bayman from England and we
00:48:26
had an amazing team um and I was pretty
00:48:29
much
00:48:30
sidelined um so that was a big learning
00:48:33
curb for me is like suddenly I'm now on
00:48:35
the sideline um and I got so much
00:48:38
attention from why um and if you know
00:48:41
her she's she's quite a Stern um strong
00:48:44
personality who's that who's why why M
00:48:46
Manu um old so ferns coach player
00:48:49
herself um yeah she's wealth of
00:48:53
knowledge about n ball um made me a wing
00:48:57
defense and yeah yeah can't stop talking
00:49:01
about how amazing she is but so she gave
00:49:04
me so much attention and I thought oh my
00:49:06
gosh I don't think she likes me like her
00:49:09
training is always like Karen do this
00:49:10
Karen do that Karen what are you doing I
00:49:12
was like oh my gosh and I keep screwing
00:49:15
up I know is what it felt like so I was
00:49:17
like oh what am I doing right I'm never
00:49:19
going to get out there um and one day
00:49:23
Katrina came over to me oh she was gr
00:49:26
but now already um she came over to me
00:49:28
and she's like because it was a tough
00:49:30
training uh got a lot of yelling going
00:49:32
my way and she's like Karen um I know
00:49:35
it's hard but if she's giving you
00:49:37
attention it's because she sees
00:49:39
potential so that's a good thing when
00:49:41
she stops talking to you that's when you
00:49:43
have to worry and that's immediately
00:49:45
when I shifted my mindset I was like
00:49:47
great um so I just started grinding
00:49:49
extremely hard um the following year I
00:49:52
got invited again to the ferns trials
00:49:54
and it just happened happened by chance
00:49:56
that I was in a group we had to do a
00:49:58
drill where they needed a wing defense
00:50:00
and at that point I'd never played Wing
00:50:02
defense before um and they were like
00:50:05
great well you're the only person that
00:50:07
can do it right now so we'll just Chuck
00:50:08
you in there and they didn't move me out
00:50:10
of wing defense for that rest of the
00:50:12
trial so I was like great I see an
00:50:14
opportunity here so I went back to the
00:50:15
poll so we had this discussion about
00:50:17
what that was going to look like and
00:50:18
they're like okay we're going to try and
00:50:19
make you a wing defense and so that
00:50:22
following year I started getting my
00:50:24
starting line up at Wing de and yeah the
00:50:26
race his history from there to be honest
00:50:29
and then so you play your um Deb for the
00:50:31
silver F and you get sent off what um
00:50:34
yeah what what happened there I tried to
00:50:36
find the clip online I couldn't couldn't
00:50:37
find it anywhere which is probably lucky
00:50:39
for you how do you I mean so you come
00:50:42
you came to New Zealand 7 years earlier
00:50:44
you've been grinding away doing these
00:50:46
long days fitting everything in day and
00:50:48
night this this could have been the
00:50:49
beginning and the end of your honestly I
00:50:51
felt this was the end I was like I'm
00:50:55
this is me I'm done um adrenaline
00:50:58
pumping
00:51:00
inexperience um playing against a very
00:51:02
experienced
00:51:04
player um I didn't feel like the sendoff
00:51:08
was necessarily bad enough uh or the
00:51:12
what they sent me off for was B enough
00:51:14
but I knew the situation that got me to
00:51:17
that point um prior to the game starting
00:51:20
the umpires did tell us that if you're
00:51:22
on a warning you have to be extremely
00:51:23
careful and so yes the warning was
00:51:26
warranted probably went for a ball I
00:51:28
shouldn't have gone for um wasn't
00:51:31
playing rugby I was playing
00:51:32
netball um and so I was on the warning
00:51:36
and that's where the discipline comes in
00:51:38
the experience come in and um I just ran
00:51:41
a j a jump a pass and um Joe Haron
00:51:45
stepped into me to pass a ball and
00:51:47
obviously I landed on her so that cost
00:51:49
me my send off and it
00:51:51
was the fastest and the slowest 2
00:51:54
minutes of of my life I had to go sit on
00:51:57
the bench for two minutes and watch my
00:51:59
the rest of my team try and fight it out
00:52:01
there with six players on court I was
00:52:03
playing with Casey Copa at the time in
00:52:06
the circle we had to laugh about it
00:52:08
afterwards a few few months afterwards
00:52:11
not immediately that I left her alone in
00:52:13
the circle um but amazing coach nolene
00:52:17
put me back out there after my two
00:52:18
minutes she didn't replace me she made
00:52:21
me go back on there and fix my own
00:52:23
mistake there was only like 3 minutes to
00:52:24
go in the game anyway but yeah I had to
00:52:27
tail between the legs go back out on
00:52:30
court um yeah when you when you when
00:52:32
you're sent off and you're sitting on
00:52:33
that sideline bear in mind the the
00:52:35
significance of the the game you know
00:52:36
being your debut for the silver F how do
00:52:38
you not how do you how do you hold the
00:52:39
emotions on how do you not burst into
00:52:41
tears um adrenaline I think was keeping
00:52:44
me keeping me going um I think I went
00:52:48
back to the hotel the first thing I did
00:52:50
was Google whether anybody else had been
00:52:52
sent off because at that point like
00:52:55
red cards and send offs weren't like
00:52:58
necessarily such a big thing like
00:52:59
recently we've had a few more of those
00:53:01
happening but at that point it wasn't
00:53:03
really a thing and I was like oh thank
00:53:05
goodness Tim AATA um George or Bailey at
00:53:08
that point had been sent off in a World
00:53:10
Cup game and I was like okay it's okay
00:53:12
I'm not the only one but I was still
00:53:14
stressing out um and I didn't get any
00:53:17
communication from the coaches I was
00:53:19
like oh no this is me this is my career
00:53:21
over um had the worst sleep ever that
00:53:24
night um we had our one-on ones the next
00:53:26
morning and I got called in amazing
00:53:29
coach that noene is she sent me down and
00:53:31
she's like just trying to understand
00:53:32
what my thinking was around why I did
00:53:35
what I did and how it happened um talked
00:53:38
it through and she's like great well now
00:53:40
you've learned don't do that again and
00:53:43
um yeah the next tour I I got game time
00:53:47
I got starting lineup so yeah just
00:53:50
Testament to the coach that she is that
00:53:52
she's very big on players learning from
00:53:54
their mistakes if if you learn from your
00:53:56
mistakes I think she's happy it's when
00:53:58
you don't learn that's that's when
00:53:59
you're in trouble yeah I've I've I've
00:54:02
recently begun to embrace failure
00:54:04
because it's it's so important isn't it
00:54:06
it's like a stepping stone to success
00:54:07
but um and yeah in reflection I suppose
00:54:10
that would have been really mean just to
00:54:11
throw you out with the bath water yeah
00:54:13
you know on your first de Booth that's
00:54:14
good that they gave you another shot um
00:54:16
thank goodness but okay so so no one
00:54:19
says anything after the game um like
00:54:22
silence till the next day it's that
00:54:24
awkwardness because you know you did
00:54:26
wrong you know um and so they don't want
00:54:29
to justify it by being like no that was
00:54:32
like unlucky for you because you did
00:54:35
wrong you have to acknowledge that but I
00:54:38
did have the support from the players
00:54:39
that like it's okay it's not the end of
00:54:41
the world like don't worry about it so
00:54:44
um yeah it's Torn Between Two because
00:54:47
you need to acknowledge that you made a
00:54:48
mistake is that's how you learn from it
00:54:51
but getting that love from the players
00:54:53
was very much the thank goodness yeah
00:54:56
yeah yeah I mean you can look back and
00:54:57
laugh about it now with you 50 tests
00:54:59
under your under your belt I know I
00:55:01
don't hide from it I think um at the
00:55:05
start I was like I just don't want
00:55:06
anybody to mention it but it's like you
00:55:08
say you learn from your mistakes and
00:55:10
it's so important to learn from them so
00:55:12
I quite often mention it a lot of people
00:55:13
don't even know about it and I would
00:55:15
bring it up I was like well I have been
00:55:17
sent off and this is what I learned from
00:55:19
it so well I gave you till 55 minutes
00:55:22
before I bought it up in this chat you
00:55:25
went forthcoming with the
00:55:26
information um but so apart from so as
00:55:29
your um as your Recollections of your
00:55:31
first test day booth in New Zealand all
00:55:34
bad because of that or no no um to be
00:55:38
honest I can't really remember too much
00:55:40
about my first few games anyway so um my
00:55:44
key things I remember um are my first
00:55:48
starting lineup um game and my first
00:55:51
time playing against South Africa that's
00:55:54
the my key memories from my early days
00:55:56
on so I don't think I really remember
00:55:59
much about anything else um and then in
00:56:01
terms of the World Cup there was an
00:56:03
amazing experience I wasn't necessarily
00:56:05
on in the very last game but my
00:56:09
personally for me was at that point I
00:56:12
didn't hadn't had my family on the
00:56:14
sidelines since I left New Zealand uh or
00:56:17
for New Zealand so um I heard my mom I
00:56:20
think it was one I think we were playing
00:56:22
like against Botswana or something but I
00:56:25
would always remember that game because
00:56:28
I grew up with my family on the
00:56:29
sidelines wherever anybody had anything
00:56:32
I was like we've got this modern in our
00:56:33
family one for all and all for one so
00:56:35
wherever one went the other went so
00:56:37
whenever I had Sports tours they were on
00:56:39
the sideline I could always hear them
00:56:41
and in this specific game I think I went
00:56:43
up for an intercept or something and I
00:56:45
could vividly hear my mom's voice in the
00:56:47
crowd um and that's something I would
00:56:51
that that was my highlight of That World
00:56:54
Cup because was that something that will
00:56:56
stick with me and the fact that she made
00:56:58
the effort to come and watch me um and
00:57:01
to be there to support me was yeah
00:57:03
amazing oh what a story is that the 2019
00:57:06
World Cup yeah yeah where silver FS won
00:57:10
yes yeah that was an amazing campaign I
00:57:13
mean I'm fortunate enough to have been
00:57:15
in a team with amazing players Legends
00:57:17
of the game um Laura langman Maria fow
00:57:21
and um Casey Copa who are amazing
00:57:24
players
00:57:25
and the campaign it was a gring campaign
00:57:29
leading into that World Cup what we went
00:57:31
through physically and mentally prepared
00:57:33
us for that final and um yeah I think we
00:57:37
still to this day there was a December
00:57:39
camp that we we absolutely got smashed
00:57:42
in anything we go into ever since then
00:57:45
was like is it going to be like that
00:57:46
camp we compare everything to that camp
00:57:48
so um but loved it loved it and hate it
00:57:51
at the same time yeah yeah well what a
00:57:54
highlight so winning a World Cup what
00:57:56
are the other like standout moments or
00:57:58
highlights in your career do you think
00:58:00
um gosh uh obviously my first um game
00:58:06
against South Africa especially having a
00:58:09
starting lineup in that game as well um
00:58:12
I often quite get a quite often got
00:58:14
asked what it is like playing against my
00:58:17
home country um I didn't know any of the
00:58:21
players personally that were in the team
00:58:23
so I didn't have that personal
00:58:25
connection with them and I never played
00:58:27
in that team myself so I didn't have
00:58:30
that connection with them the only
00:58:31
connection I really have is the fact
00:58:33
that they are from my home country um
00:58:35
and that I could sometimes understand
00:58:37
what they were saying on court when they
00:58:39
were talking to each other it's got to
00:58:41
it's got to be so weird though with um
00:58:43
hearing the anthem though like you got
00:58:45
two anthems pregame that bring you
00:58:47
Goosebumps yeah I think that's probably
00:58:49
the the weirdest thing for me is
00:58:52
standing um in the black dress um facing
00:58:55
the opposition and trying to not sing
00:58:58
along to the South African Anthem um and
00:59:02
I didn't really like this is the thing
00:59:05
that I grew up not knowing how amazing
00:59:08
our Anthem really was until I moved here
00:59:10
and everyone so many new zealanders um
00:59:13
tell me about how they love the South
00:59:15
African Anthem and how beautiful it is
00:59:17
and it's not till you hear that kind of
00:59:19
thing I was like actually yes it is
00:59:21
really beautiful um so yeah new
00:59:25
appreciation for it but really H trying
00:59:27
to not sing along to it I mean I sing
00:59:29
along to it in my head but I suppose
00:59:32
it's that saying like absence makes the
00:59:33
heart grow fond R so the the longer you
00:59:36
are away from your birthplace the more
00:59:37
of a connection you feel to it perhaps I
00:59:39
don't know yeah I um it's just amazing
00:59:42
that the support recently as well and
00:59:44
going back and playing the World Cup
00:59:46
this year in South Africa as well um the
00:59:49
amount of support I get from from the
00:59:53
family and friends over there
00:59:55
I do feel like I can do more in terms of
00:59:57
my connection with back home um because
00:59:59
I left at such an early age not very
01:00:02
many people know how long I actually
01:00:05
lived in South Africa and so I don't
01:00:08
necessarily have that strong of a
01:00:09
connection with when I do go back there
01:00:12
um sometimes people are quite surprised
01:00:14
I was like oh my gosh you're South
01:00:15
African I was like yeah yes I am and I
01:00:18
spent quite a decent time there too so I
01:00:21
don't want to lose that that um side of
01:00:23
me because your accent is not that
01:00:25
strong is it I know so this is the funny
01:00:28
thing like when I go home I don't like
01:00:30
speaking English because obviously like
01:00:32
oh why what do you speak Africans
01:00:34
Africans yeah home language is Africans
01:00:37
and so growing up um obviously second
01:00:41
language is a mandatory thing in New
01:00:43
Zealand uh in South Africa especially
01:00:46
English because we've got so many
01:00:48
different languages got like 13
01:00:49
different languages so you have to have
01:00:51
a common one to actually understand each
01:00:53
other so um at school you've got your
01:00:56
main language which to me was Africans
01:00:58
um but we have to learn English from a
01:01:01
like young young age so I could speak it
01:01:04
I could understand it fluently all good
01:01:06
but I never used it because I grew up in
01:01:09
a like really small towns pretty much
01:01:11
just Africans only spoke Africans so my
01:01:13
first real like chucking in the deep end
01:01:16
was in New Zealand where I had to speak
01:01:18
it on a daily basis like that's probably
01:01:21
also why the combination of being
01:01:24
and that language barrier I wouldn't
01:01:26
really approach people or talk to people
01:01:28
because I was translating in my head
01:01:30
before I spoke whereas now whe whether
01:01:33
I'm Africans in Africans or English
01:01:35
environment I think in the language that
01:01:37
I'm speaking but back then I was
01:01:39
thinking in afri and I was like right I
01:01:41
need to translate and so it took me a
01:01:43
bit longer to reply to or respond to
01:01:45
people um like a buffering computer yeah
01:01:49
yeah and quite often use the wrong words
01:01:52
or tenses or stuff but um yeah so pretty
01:01:56
much just thrown in the deep end to have
01:01:58
to speak it on a daily basis and I think
01:02:00
that's where I picked it up because I my
01:02:02
first time using it that much was here
01:02:05
yeah well I'm I'm an idiot that can only
01:02:07
speak one one language and and and
01:02:09
that's English so so explain that to me
01:02:11
so you you're thinking in your head in
01:02:13
Africans and then you're then you're
01:02:15
trying to translate it before you say it
01:02:17
out loud yeah like I would think about
01:02:20
what I want to say before I say it like
01:02:22
so I would hear it and I like right this
01:02:26
is what I want to say and then I would
01:02:27
translate I was like okay now I need to
01:02:29
say it oh my God it's gonna take such a
01:02:32
long time to order a coffee or something
01:02:33
yeah but that was back then and so the
01:02:36
and that's why like fully immersing
01:02:38
yourself in that culture is the best way
01:02:41
to do it because now when I go home
01:02:44
predominantly I speak Africans um and
01:02:46
yes okay it takes me a couple of days to
01:02:48
not get stuck on Words uh but the moment
01:02:51
I'm in an Africans environment it just
01:02:52
flows and I just think African can't
01:02:54
speak up fors and then I come home to
01:02:56
new I've got so many homes and then I
01:02:59
come home to New Zealand um and then I
01:03:01
was like right couple of days to just
01:03:03
get the rain re regathered um and then
01:03:06
think English speak English yeah so so
01:03:08
when you play South Africa and you can
01:03:10
hear them speaking Africans what what
01:03:11
sort of things are they saying oh just
01:03:13
like stuff about um if something's not
01:03:15
working what they're going to do to fix
01:03:17
it right or um like well maybe on this
01:03:20
SC a past they're going to say what
01:03:21
they're going to do and I'll be like
01:03:22
right guys we need to do this cuz
01:03:23
they're doing this so um it's amazing
01:03:26
Intel isn't it yeah yeah I mean
01:03:28
obviously it's like you have to relay
01:03:30
that message quite quickly to the other
01:03:31
people so no time to do the translate no
01:03:34
no so quite often it's not really use
01:03:36
useful to know because it's not like you
01:03:37
can relay to the rest of the team in
01:03:39
that quick few seconds but yeah it's
01:03:41
quite interesting yeah and when you when
01:03:43
you play poorly how do how how quickly
01:03:45
do you bounce back or when something
01:03:46
goes wrong like we we touched upon
01:03:48
before the um the testday bo with the
01:03:50
sand off yeah um yeah what what for you
01:03:53
makes a good game and a bad game
01:03:55
I um last night for example your 50th
01:03:58
test match where you won against
01:03:59
Australia was that a good game
01:04:02
um I I would base it off a team effort
01:04:05
but also an individual effort and how I
01:04:07
helped my team I used to rate myself on
01:04:11
how much ball I got how many intercepts
01:04:12
I got um but when you start playing
01:04:15
International level it's so hard getting
01:04:17
ball and so if you get stuck on just um
01:04:20
that's the way I rate myself um I can
01:04:23
get down on myself quite harshly and I
01:04:25
was like no I still do a good job I
01:04:28
still need to tell myself I'm doing a
01:04:29
good job so like last night we didn't
01:04:31
get heaps a ball but we got ball and I
01:04:34
think to me it's about what I did for my
01:04:39
unit and how I contributed to my unit
01:04:42
obviously the best thing to know that
01:04:44
you did all right was the fact that you
01:04:46
stayed on court in the first instance
01:04:48
yes I didn't get set off again um but
01:04:52
yeah I think it's just how I helped my
01:04:56
unit and um the Kiwi style is very much
01:04:59
to be playing together and for each
01:05:02
other um so how I helped my unit to get
01:05:06
born that's that's and your style like
01:05:09
again amazing coach who knows what your
01:05:12
strength is and you would have seen in
01:05:14
the last couple of games she made
01:05:15
strategic changes to make a difference
01:05:18
um because she knows what every single
01:05:20
player offers and what their strengths
01:05:22
are and so that all she ever asks of you
01:05:25
to do is just bring your best and so
01:05:28
that's what I know I know what my
01:05:29
strengths are they constantly ask us
01:05:31
what's your strength how do we get the
01:05:32
best out of you and so I know what I
01:05:34
need to go do and as long as I do that
01:05:35
well then I then I'm happy and and do
01:05:38
you have like a like a post analysis or
01:05:40
anything with Dame noan and we yeah
01:05:43
really when does that take place so you
01:05:44
just finished the four game series well
01:05:47
not necessarily after the four games
01:05:49
usually we have a series debrief um yes
01:05:52
like we had one after the English series
01:05:54
especially going into another series we
01:05:55
had to do that what's the goods the bads
01:05:58
what we need to work on all that kind of
01:06:00
stuff and then we took it into the next
01:06:01
series so because we don't have anything
01:06:03
else on for the rest of the year it's
01:06:05
not necessarily such a big Focus for us
01:06:08
um we've only got one coming up next
01:06:10
January but I'm sure there will be
01:06:12
things that because we also finished on
01:06:14
a high and things were going quite well
01:06:15
there's obviously a lot a bit less to
01:06:17
have to worry about and focus on um but
01:06:20
yeah no we do have a team debrief after
01:06:23
the series to know what we did well what
01:06:25
we need to keep doing and what we need
01:06:27
to change to to be better yeah you and
01:06:30
Dame noene must have a special
01:06:31
relationship because she's been your
01:06:32
your coach through your entire time at
01:06:34
the the silver FS five years yeah she's
01:06:37
um it's like I've been with under here
01:06:40
for so long and still like who was that
01:06:43
I can't remember who I was talking to
01:06:45
the other day another experienced player
01:06:46
but we were saying it's
01:06:48
still I wouldn't say intimidating but
01:06:51
the aura and the person that she is you
01:06:54
it's out of respect that you still fear
01:06:57
her um and it's it's a good way good yes
01:07:01
we absolutely have so much respect for
01:07:03
her um um and like and again the kind of
01:07:08
coach that she is uh if you play hard
01:07:12
and you play well you will get your
01:07:14
opportunities you get feedback you get
01:07:16
told what you do well and what you need
01:07:18
to work on so you're always clear on
01:07:19
what you need to fix or what she wants
01:07:22
you to do um and that Clarity means a
01:07:24
lot for us as players um so yeah uh I
01:07:31
want to say I've got a really good
01:07:32
relationship with her but um so much
01:07:35
respect for her and um the coach that
01:07:38
she is I mean she's done amazing things
01:07:41
that um it's that still that respect and
01:07:44
fear kind of thing you know yeah it's an
01:07:47
interesting interesting relationship and
01:07:49
interesting relationship um from her
01:07:50
perspective to the players as well like
01:07:52
when you've got someone like you who
01:07:54
she's uh worked with and selected since
01:07:56
you were 25 and you're 30 now I mean if
01:07:58
she's around long enough there's going
01:08:00
to you know eventually maybe become a
01:08:02
time where she's going to make a hard
01:08:03
decision about you 100% And um like but
01:08:07
that's the great environment that we
01:08:09
have in our team as well we've got so
01:08:11
many young ones coming through and the
01:08:13
coach at she is if you do the job and
01:08:15
you do it really well you'll be out
01:08:17
there and you'll be selected um and for
01:08:21
us as older players or more experienced
01:08:24
is rephrase by the way by I'm sitting
01:08:27
here I'm [ __ ] 50 I'm old like you're
01:08:30
you're Sports old but you're still very
01:08:32
young in life uh I keep telling myself
01:08:35
that um but yeah for our more
01:08:37
experienced players we need those young
01:08:40
ones nipping at our heels to make us
01:08:42
better players um just like when I first
01:08:45
came in and Katrina um R was playing you
01:08:48
know she was the more experienced player
01:08:50
and we were battling for that Bib and so
01:08:52
she was having to go hard because I was
01:08:54
nipping at her heels whereas I had to go
01:08:57
hard because she had experience over me
01:08:59
so um it's it's an exciting time to know
01:09:02
we've got so many young ones coming
01:09:04
through and to have that competition is
01:09:05
a good thing it's a it's hard but it's
01:09:08
really good yeah and now um the
01:09:11
Birmingham Commonwealth Games last year
01:09:13
um I know you were you were very excited
01:09:15
about this and then you had like a foot
01:09:17
injury an ankle injury yeah my first big
01:09:20
injury um how long were you out for six
01:09:23
months yeah so you missed the missed the
01:09:24
the Commonwealth Games and the the girls
01:09:26
won uh bronze uh yes bronze yeah yeah um
01:09:30
yeah I how was that would take us back
01:09:32
to the point of the
01:09:33
injury I think I have a a an idea that
01:09:37
I'd been playing with it for the
01:09:39
domestic season it just progressively
01:09:41
got worse and worse um but I mean we
01:09:45
were doing the scans and the things
01:09:46
we're doing the necessary things but
01:09:48
nothing was showing up um but I was like
01:09:51
anti-inflammatories painkillers good to
01:09:54
go um check some quarter Zone in there
01:09:58
gosh um so yeah I it was our very last
01:10:02
game we didn't have a good season that
01:10:03
year with the tactics um but our very
01:10:06
last game I remember was against the
01:10:09
pulse at um Christ Church Arena went up
01:10:12
for an intercept against T and I landed
01:10:15
really hard um and at that point uh the
01:10:19
painkillers didn't want to work anymore
01:10:22
um so I was hobbling it was only 3
01:10:24
minutes left to go in the game I'm the
01:10:25
kind of player unless you're going to
01:10:26
sub me off I'm not going off by my own
01:10:29
um will so um coach wasn't calling it so
01:10:32
I was pretty much just hobbling for the
01:10:34
three minutes on court um and then they
01:10:37
put me because the selections were
01:10:38
coming up for com games and all that
01:10:40
kind of stuff or com games are coming up
01:10:42
they put me in a moon boot precautionary
01:10:45
and while they were doing all the tests
01:10:46
and stuff um and I'd gone for my
01:10:50
skin uh I was in the gym I was ready to
01:10:54
go that morning when I got the news I
01:10:55
went to the gym was still my moon boot
01:10:57
it was pretty much took it off to go do
01:10:59
some lifts and then I got a message from
01:11:02
the physio that said um we got the scans
01:11:05
back and it doesn't look promising um
01:11:08
but and and he immediately he was like
01:11:11
um yeah it looks like you might have a
01:11:14
freter my brain refusing to accept it
01:11:17
was like okay I might be out for a
01:11:20
couple of weeks this is it's all right I
01:11:21
can do this it's fine so immediately put
01:11:24
my boot backck on and I ring him and I
01:11:25
was like what does this mean two weeks
01:11:28
three weeks what am I doing he was like
01:11:31
no this no this doesn't look like this
01:11:34
is going to be an operation and I was
01:11:36
like whoa whoa whoa I after the games
01:11:39
hold up hold up I've been playing with
01:11:41
painkillers for the last season I think
01:11:43
I can stick it through I like if this is
01:11:45
on me because he was like it's a freter
01:11:47
I was like this is if it's on me like if
01:11:49
I'm willing to take painkillers can I
01:11:51
just stick it through can I just go
01:11:53
really hard and he's like probably not
01:11:55
because it will eventually snap or
01:11:57
whatever or like you know with noses
01:12:01
always if you're not 100% you're adding
01:12:03
to the load of other players so I
01:12:05
completely understood at that point that
01:12:08
that just I wasn't going to be okay so
01:12:09
in other words it would have been like
01:12:10
selfish for you to be playing because
01:12:12
you're not playing to your potential yes
01:12:14
did you did you remind them that Richie
01:12:15
mcco won the 2011 World Cup with a
01:12:17
broken [ __ ] foot well the other thing
01:12:19
was that you know our trainings are
01:12:21
really brutal and so so if you are
01:12:25
nursing an injury you can't be in all
01:12:27
the trainings which mean you're adding
01:12:29
to load with other players they're
01:12:30
having to make up for your load and
01:12:32
trainings just so that you can play a
01:12:34
game and that's unfair that's a good way
01:12:35
of looking at it I never thought about
01:12:36
framing it that way but that's a great
01:12:38
way looking at it it's kind of it's
01:12:39
almost more selfish in a way exactly so
01:12:42
I got that call um and he said well go
01:12:44
to the doctors and just get the
01:12:46
confirmation that that is what it is and
01:12:48
I was still saying in the drive over I
01:12:49
was like no they had it wrong it's not
01:12:51
what it is but un fortunately the doctor
01:12:54
told me yep you can see the little line
01:12:56
right there it's like the tiniest little
01:12:58
fracture and the tiniest little bone in
01:13:00
my foot and I was like this is so
01:13:02
stupid um but yeah I went back out after
01:13:05
I got the news got in the car and I
01:13:06
immediately rang mom and I just bowed my
01:13:09
eyes out I was like this is that H it
01:13:12
was the worst um but I gave myself
01:13:15
myself a day or two to Sul about it and
01:13:17
cry about it and I was like I need to
01:13:19
get on with it it's not the end of the
01:13:21
world other people have had injuries
01:13:22
it's fine
01:13:24
um so I pretty much scheduled my surgery
01:13:27
for a couple weeks after that um went
01:13:29
straight into surgery I was like Silver
01:13:30
Lining at that point I hadn't seen my
01:13:32
family for about three or four years so
01:13:35
I was like I'm booking a holiday to go
01:13:36
home so I got to go home and see my
01:13:39
family it was hard
01:13:43
um I I want to say I supported the girls
01:13:46
which I did in my heart I did but it was
01:13:49
really hard to watch um so even any com
01:13:53
games so whenever at home um there was
01:13:57
any like doesn't matter what sport it
01:13:59
was um I didn't want to be in the room
01:14:01
when it was on the TV so I would just
01:14:03
leave and my family was massive
01:14:05
supporter so they watched all the games
01:14:08
and they um they got but annoyed at me
01:14:10
that I don't want to watch the games
01:14:11
with them but I was like no you guys can
01:14:13
really watch but I'm going to go to my
01:14:15
room like I I can't my heart hurting
01:14:18
yeah um I did end up watching their
01:14:21
final game though their bronze game so
01:14:23
so I master up the carriage I was like
01:14:25
no I need to at least watch this one for
01:14:27
them so um yeah it it was an experience
01:14:31
that uh I know I need to take better
01:14:33
care of my body after that it was six
01:14:36
months I had a downtime I was like this
01:14:38
is a perfect opportunity for me to look
01:14:40
at what I need to work on what I can do
01:14:43
better um how to take care of my body
01:14:45
better so I enjoyed my six months off as
01:14:49
bad as it was not going to com games I
01:14:52
enjoyed it I learned a lot of about
01:14:53
myself did you what were the key
01:14:55
takeaways you reckon um well gosh I
01:15:00
think um smarter not harder harder is
01:15:03
not always the
01:15:04
answer um and I think at that
01:15:09
point uh it was I didn't like listening
01:15:13
to the doctors in the physios when they
01:15:14
told me something because I was like no
01:15:16
I can do this like don't tell me um
01:15:20
you're so determined but you know what
01:15:22
it's um
01:15:23
it's a it's a superpow in a way because
01:15:26
it's like this Dogg determination a cur
01:15:29
because I mean that that's where I was
01:15:33
like no even if it's the smallest niggle
01:15:35
I need to mention it because it can turn
01:15:37
into something big um and so need to
01:15:40
take better care of my body need to
01:15:42
acknowledge that doctors and physios
01:15:44
know more than I do so if they tell you
01:15:47
not to do something you don't do it um
01:15:50
so that was a key learning and obviously
01:15:52
harder is not always the answer you can
01:15:54
be smarter about it um but then life
01:15:56
outside of nightball as well um you know
01:16:00
when things are going well you don't
01:16:01
really want to change too much in the
01:16:02
routines and things that you do but the
01:16:05
six months that I had I was like perfect
01:16:07
opportunity to experiment a little bit
01:16:09
so I experimented in my diet and how I
01:16:12
did things as well and um I've been
01:16:15
lactose free for ages at that point for
01:16:18
a few years um and then I decided to go
01:16:20
gluten-free as well I had a grumbly
01:16:22
tummy for years and years and I just let
01:16:24
it be um and then I went gluten-free and
01:16:27
it's been amazing um and challenge
01:16:30
myself with no oh my gosh and my as well
01:16:32
tell you I'm really really big Sweet
01:16:35
Tooth um she used to be my roomie and
01:16:38
she always tells me I was the worst
01:16:39
roomy to be amongst because I was so bad
01:16:42
with my Treats but I started challenging
01:16:45
myself to stay away from treats as well
01:16:47
so and um the difference not necessarily
01:16:50
that I just saw but felt in my body was
01:16:52
quite interesting and so I was
01:16:54
interested in behind the science of food
01:16:56
and why it did the the things that it
01:16:58
did and what it did so that's where my
01:17:01
interest in nutrition started coming in
01:17:03
so I had a plan of what I wanted to do
01:17:05
after eightball so it was a good six
01:17:07
months yeah a lot of learnings that's
01:17:11
that's really awesome it's it's um I
01:17:13
feel like you just have this natural
01:17:14
ability in any situation there is always
01:17:17
a silver lining isn't there or there's
01:17:18
an upside um but sometimes it's very
01:17:20
difficult to find or see that even if
01:17:22
you search um very very hard but it
01:17:25
seems like you managed to find that with
01:17:26
the Commonwealth Games situation
01:17:28
relatively quickly that's the best way
01:17:31
to get out of your funk um is to try and
01:17:34
see the good things in life um sometimes
01:17:38
it's a bit harder sometimes you need
01:17:41
that support um and you need that
01:17:44
somebody to pull you through uh but I
01:17:47
think you have to look at it like that
01:17:49
otherwise you're just going to get stay
01:17:50
stuck in that mentality of you know the
01:17:53
world is against me so no well good for
01:17:56
you and do do you have like a sports
01:17:57
psychologist or anything in the team or
01:17:59
yeah we do have a sports psychologist um
01:18:02
Rodney um yeah we we can use him we can
01:18:06
utilize him again this is where in the
01:18:08
past I was like I don't need that you
01:18:10
know I like why would I want to do that
01:18:12
I'm happy I'm I'm good to go but it's um
01:18:17
learning skills about yourself and how
01:18:19
to be a better athlete is quite good in
01:18:22
that perspective so um yes we do have
01:18:25
somebody to help us to go to um which is
01:18:28
quite nice we're quite fortunate I get
01:18:30
the feeling you don't have too much to
01:18:31
do with Rodney did you lean on him
01:18:34
during that um the Commonwealth Games
01:18:35
time or it was quite funny I was I was
01:18:38
um I was laughing because when I heard
01:18:41
the news this was the Friday I think I
01:18:43
heard the news and I told myself I'm
01:18:46
going to give myself the weekend to sulk
01:18:49
but I got in touch because they were
01:18:50
like we think it's important that you do
01:18:52
get in touch with Rod
01:18:53
so I messaged rod and I was like Rod I
01:18:55
need to talk to you um but I'm taking
01:18:59
this weekend for myself um at that point
01:19:02
I thought he'd knew like you know
01:19:03
because when like they've got the
01:19:06
structure up there so they tend to share
01:19:08
that you know this person's out or
01:19:10
whatever so I thought he knew about my
01:19:11
injury and so the Monday when we
01:19:13
scheduled the Skype or the Microsoft or
01:19:16
teams meeting whatever um he was like
01:19:20
right Karen what what's going on and
01:19:23
he hadn't heard about my injury so he
01:19:26
thought I was going through like this
01:19:27
massive life crisis and I was like
01:19:29
depressed and like going through this
01:19:32
massive ordeal and he was like ready
01:19:34
he's like I had my books ready I had my
01:19:36
questions ready I was like Rod I'm I'm
01:19:38
just injured I'm just not going to com
01:19:39
games and he's like oh okay I thought
01:19:42
you were going through it and I was like
01:19:43
no no no it's just you know I'm I'm
01:19:46
having to deal with this now and I've
01:19:47
never dealt with this before I don't
01:19:49
know I don't you you shouldn't be down
01:19:51
playing this though this is a this is a
01:19:52
big piece of adversity you went through
01:19:54
yeah um I I think that's um a good and a
01:19:59
bad thing about me um is that whether I
01:20:02
had success or a tough time I don't
01:20:05
necessarily acknowledge it for what it
01:20:07
is I like I'm not great with the touchy
01:20:12
feely kind of stuff and I think that's
01:20:15
why also i' Rod knows this that's why I
01:20:18
also avoid him because I don't like
01:20:20
getting into that touchy Fey stuff and I
01:20:23
hate crying in front of people even
01:20:24
though like I do I can cry easily if I
01:20:28
am emotional I hate crying in front of
01:20:31
people do you why is that I don't know I
01:20:33
don't know whether it's a vulnerable
01:20:35
thing or vulnerability is um yeah I used
01:20:39
to be I used to have massive massive
01:20:41
walls up and I've um been trying to get
01:20:43
better the last few years to sort of
01:20:45
like tear them down a little bit because
01:20:46
I know like vulnerability is like
01:20:47
another sort of superpower are you um
01:20:50
yeah I get the feeling you've got walls
01:20:52
up
01:20:53
um do you or is that unfair prob no no
01:20:57
that's probably a that's probably fair I
01:20:59
think uh my circle is quite small um and
01:21:04
I can mention with my time um who I give
01:21:06
my time to um is
01:21:10
limited um you got [ __ ] to do I do I do
01:21:14
um but also um I do like I trust people
01:21:18
until you give me reason not to um but
01:21:21
when it comes to my personal tight-knit
01:21:23
thing it yeah I don't have many people
01:21:26
that I have that close to me um so yeah
01:21:30
I I guess I do have walls but once once
01:21:32
you're in you're in you're in you're in
01:21:34
that inner circle geez I feel like it be
01:21:36
a it's a it's a a long way borrowing to
01:21:39
get into that in a circle though wasn't
01:21:40
it seems like you you've mentioned your
01:21:42
family a few times like you're really
01:21:43
close to them so I'm guessing they and
01:21:44
you're in a circle but that I mean um
01:21:47
your technolog is good with teams and
01:21:49
zoom and FaceTime and whatever but it's
01:21:51
that's still a long way away yeah um and
01:21:54
I think recently in the last few
01:21:58
years it's gotten more real about not
01:22:02
having that support system immediate
01:22:04
support system around me
01:22:07
um but I try not like I don't want that
01:22:11
to be the reason for me to suddenly
01:22:12
start looking for you know a significant
01:22:15
other or trying to I think I was quite
01:22:18
social I tried to be quite social at the
01:22:20
start or earlier in this year and it
01:22:22
drained me so much cuz I was like I need
01:22:24
more people around me I need to build my
01:22:27
you know my circle but it drained me so
01:22:30
much and it it actually was to my
01:22:32
detriment and I was like I don't need
01:22:35
this I'm happy with myself um and but it
01:22:39
does it does get lonely it really does
01:22:42
get lonely sometimes um but it's it's
01:22:46
not forever and I know I've got the
01:22:48
right people around me when I need them
01:22:51
um so
01:22:53
yeah yeah good for you and how's your
01:22:55
how's your mental health been over the
01:22:56
years has it been pretty good mostly
01:22:58
good well yes again like I try you're
01:23:01
not just sweeping everything under the
01:23:03
rug Rod might tell you I do
01:23:06
sometimes Rod wouldn't no you've only
01:23:09
had two meetings with them in five years
01:23:11
avoidance avoidance avoidance is key
01:23:15
yeah no um now you seem pretty good like
01:23:17
the I mean this is the first time we've
01:23:19
met and we've been chatting for like an
01:23:20
hour or 20 now and you just I get the
01:23:23
the definite impression of someone
01:23:24
that's um just relentlessly optimistic
01:23:27
and positive and glass half full I think
01:23:30
I'm fortunate to have the ability to
01:23:34
most of the time 90% of the time when I
01:23:37
don't When Something's Happened to me
01:23:39
that I don't like or it's a bad if I
01:23:41
can't do anything about it I just switch
01:23:42
off from it I like I can't do anything
01:23:45
about it there's no point of stressing
01:23:46
about it so I'm fortunate enough to have
01:23:49
that ability to just switch it off and
01:23:51
be like no I'm not not going to worry
01:23:53
myself about that and so that keeps me
01:23:55
in a good positive mindset but um it's
01:23:58
not always like that it definitely isn't
01:24:00
yeah that's a good way to approach
01:24:01
things though because you everyone will
01:24:03
tell you don't worry about the things
01:24:04
that are out of your control but it's
01:24:05
easier said than done isn't it 100% And
01:24:08
I think I'm sometimes guilty of that
01:24:10
because I've got like a a sister that is
01:24:14
very much a worry wart like she takes on
01:24:17
the world's problems um and so she's
01:24:20
just like this mess of mother at heart
01:24:22
and so she is very big on worrying and
01:24:25
like caring for others and so my advice
01:24:28
to her would always be like why like why
01:24:30
are you doing this so but that's her
01:24:32
personality and that is who she is so
01:24:33
it's so much harder for someone like
01:24:35
that to just be able to switch off um so
01:24:38
that's why I said at the start I'm
01:24:40
fortunate to have that ability to be
01:24:42
able to do that but it can be at a
01:24:45
detriment to myself sometimes as well
01:24:47
because sometimes you do need to feel
01:24:50
those things and you do need to work
01:24:51
through them and not pile them up so
01:24:54
yeah working on that aspect of it I feel
01:24:58
like you're always gonna have something
01:24:59
that you're that you're working
01:25:00
on you have to it's that constant
01:25:02
Improvement trying to be a better person
01:25:04
every day you have to yeah yeah oh it's
01:25:07
inspiring it's inspiring and what what's
01:25:08
your inner voice like are you mostly
01:25:10
kind to yourself because I I know if
01:25:11
you're um I I don't know I've probably
01:25:14
over the years had um sort of like a
01:25:16
perfectionism complex and it's like it's
01:25:19
it sounds it can be a good thing but it
01:25:21
can also be a bad as well yeah you most
01:25:23
mostly kind to yourself or you quite
01:25:25
hard on yourself I think probably more
01:25:28
leaning towards being hard on myself but
01:25:30
I think that is expected of a person
01:25:33
like high performing athletes that's the
01:25:36
mentality that we have as well that
01:25:38
doesn't matter how good you are you can
01:25:39
always be better um and so um that's
01:25:44
where I have to say in the last couple
01:25:45
of years my specifically my sister but
01:25:48
also my mom have come in to play really
01:25:51
well and reminding me that what I've
01:25:54
have done and how far I have come and
01:25:56
how good I am um because I'm
01:26:00
always uh downplaying things that I do
01:26:04
um and I I started this uh or I try um
01:26:10
Jay galard he started this itang concept
01:26:13
about tall poppy syndrome and that um
01:26:17
we're too humble sometimes and I come
01:26:20
from a history of
01:26:22
I hate Cockiness and arrogance I cannot
01:26:25
stand it um and but it's that fine line
01:26:29
of acknowledging when you are doing well
01:26:31
and being proud of yourself and
01:26:33
celebrating that and so that's what I'm
01:26:35
trying to work on myself a little bit
01:26:37
more is celebrating myself and being
01:26:39
proud of myself a little bit more rather
01:26:41
than always like downplaying or being
01:26:43
harsh on myself and my sister's been
01:26:45
really good that voice in the background
01:26:47
for me because I know they'll be very
01:26:49
open and honest with me when I'm not
01:26:50
doing something well when I need to do
01:26:52
to be better so coming from them that
01:26:54
support and be like no you are doing
01:26:56
really well don't be so down on yourself
01:26:58
is quite good yeah and I think I think
01:27:00
there's a difference between being um
01:27:02
being proud of yourself and being able
01:27:03
to acknowledge what you've done and
01:27:04
thinking that your [ __ ] doesn't stink
01:27:06
you know what I mean is um toal puppy a
01:27:08
big thing in South Africa as well it's a
01:27:10
massive thing here in newon no I don't
01:27:12
think so yeah well not that I would say
01:27:15
it is no um I think that it's pretty
01:27:20
much a thing here but
01:27:22
I love that about New Zealand as well I
01:27:24
love the humble side um it's just having
01:27:28
that fine line of being humble but
01:27:32
celebrating the good things as well and
01:27:35
I think that's where that's where I
01:27:37
would like to see it go is that we do
01:27:39
celebrate and not just um ourselves but
01:27:42
each other and I think that's more
01:27:44
important because if you get that
01:27:45
celebration from others you're more
01:27:47
inclined to do it for yourself too yeah
01:27:50
you don't want to be that person and be
01:27:51
like Oh I'm I'm so good or I'm doing
01:27:53
this but when the people around you are
01:27:55
doing it for you you be like oh yeah
01:27:57
maybe I am doing well you are you are
01:28:01
and I feel like today of all days is um
01:28:02
is a time where you should pause and
01:28:04
reflect on what you've done I mean you
01:28:06
just finished the series against
01:28:07
Australia you've played 50 games for New
01:28:09
Zealand um and the road that you took to
01:28:11
get here it's um it's incredible it's a
01:28:14
hell of a journey thank you so you you
01:28:16
do deserve to pet yourself on the bo
01:28:18
yeah we had um Wendy Fu who is an
01:28:21
amazing um player down in the South
01:28:23
Island um Southland she um she got 15
01:28:27
minutes out on court um in the black
01:28:30
dress um and she came into our camp
01:28:33
before our inago game um because we're
01:28:35
trying to connect with our player past
01:28:38
players uh and she had a chat about how
01:28:42
she wished it could have been more and
01:28:44
how she relished the few minutes that
01:28:46
she had out on Court and so when you
01:28:49
hear something like that it just reminds
01:28:51
you that you know it's every second out
01:28:55
there every moment in that black dress
01:28:57
is a absolute privilege and an honor and
01:28:59
you need to relish that moment for as
01:29:01
long as you can because you don't know
01:29:02
how long it's going to last so I think
01:29:05
after having that chat with her and now
01:29:07
being able to celebrate my 50
01:29:10
games yeah it it's hard when it's about
01:29:13
me when I'm celebrating other people's
01:29:15
50th I'm was like this is amazing you've
01:29:17
played so many games but when it's about
01:29:19
me it's like gosh you just can't believe
01:29:22
almost so it's hard to celebrate it's
01:29:25
really cool and I've heard you reference
01:29:26
the black dress um a few times of the
01:29:30
same way that the old blacks mentioned
01:29:31
the black Jersey do you get like um a
01:29:33
new black dress each game we um get a
01:29:36
new one every year so our year runs um
01:29:40
August till September um so you pretty
01:29:43
much get a new allocation whenever you
01:29:45
get selected in the squad you get your
01:29:47
two dresses um two dresses a year two
01:29:50
dresses a year so you don't we wash it
01:29:53
we wash it every night and we don't put
01:29:56
it in the washing machine either no no
01:29:58
you hand wash it in your bathroom and
01:30:01
then you ring it dry and then you yeah
01:30:04
is that out of necessity because you
01:30:06
have to you we've only got two dresses
01:30:08
so if it goes out in the wash and it
01:30:10
doesn't come back or the washing machine
01:30:12
does something to it you know whatever
01:30:14
if it goes missing it's yeah you're
01:30:16
screwed yeah yeah so um yeah we have to
01:30:18
take very good care of our two dresses
01:30:21
cuz the old blacks get like a they they
01:30:23
get um a jersey presented before each
01:30:25
game and it's got like black black
01:30:27
embroidery with um who they're playing
01:30:29
in the date and stuff really really so
01:30:32
from your five years you've got like 10
01:30:33
dresses yeah yeah pretty much yeah oh
01:30:37
well actually correction for Pinnacle
01:30:40
events there'll be a separate dress for
01:30:42
a pinnacle event so for com games you
01:30:45
would have had your allocation for the
01:30:46
year but com games had its specific
01:30:48
dress and World Cup had its specific
01:30:50
dress so every now and then you get four
01:30:52
dresses the year um but I mean it just
01:30:56
makes that dress for me not that
01:30:58
obviously the old black JY won't be more
01:31:00
special but it makes that physical dress
01:31:03
so much more special because I know all
01:31:05
my games all my Blood Sweat and Tears
01:31:07
was in that specific dress so handing
01:31:11
what I do with that dress means so much
01:31:13
more to me um
01:31:16
yeah that's cool what what what do you
01:31:18
think you'll do with them at the end of
01:31:19
your career I've you seem so humble I
01:31:21
can't imagine you ever framing them and
01:31:22
having them in a oh yeah well so I've
01:31:26
held on to one dress and then
01:31:28
one um if I had someone really special
01:31:32
to me that year that meant a lot for me
01:31:35
um I would give that dress to that
01:31:37
special person so I've held on to at
01:31:38
least one of each allocation same with
01:31:40
my franchise dresses I've got so many of
01:31:43
them as well um and we after our last
01:31:48
World Cup uh Gina krton and T sby Ricket
01:31:51
they um um had a contact in the South
01:31:53
Island they had this massive frame um
01:31:55
and they framed their dresses and with
01:31:58
big collage of photos of themselves
01:32:00
playing and the metal looks
01:32:03
amazing um and as amazing as it looks I
01:32:06
was like what am I going to do with this
01:32:08
like I don't want to put it up in my
01:32:09
house like but then I thought about it
01:32:12
okay it's cool though I know so I've
01:32:15
thought about it and I think um one day
01:32:18
when I have my own big house I want my
01:32:22
own Little Gym setup my room with my gym
01:32:25
set up and um I will
01:32:27
frame uh I don't know if I can frame all
01:32:30
of them because there'll be too many of
01:32:31
them but I'll frame my key ones and I'll
01:32:33
try and put them up and that will be my
01:32:35
memorabilia gym SL JY workout room so
01:32:40
hopefully that's the plan one day with
01:32:41
them yeah I like it oh that's a good
01:32:43
plan um and you turned 30 in April this
01:32:45
year which is a a big milestone birthday
01:32:48
um yes how yeah how how did that make
01:32:50
you feel because it's um as we touched
01:32:53
upon before on the bigest scheme of life
01:32:54
you're still very very young yeah I know
01:32:57
actually apparently I'm 24 because my
01:32:59
sister's got this mentality right she's
01:33:00
a year older than me she's got this
01:33:03
mentality if you tell yourself you're a
01:33:05
certain age that's the age that you are
01:33:07
so she keeps telling herself she's 25
01:33:10
and so back when I was home the last
01:33:13
time I was like oh guys no I can't do it
01:33:15
like I'm 30 and she's like you can't be
01:33:17
30 I'm 25 so that means you're
01:33:20
24 um but no I um it's a good way to
01:33:23
look at it but your ankle disagrees I
01:33:25
know I know um no you're only as old as
01:33:29
you feel and what you make of it so
01:33:32
um yeah I have to remind myself
01:33:35
sometimes that I'm 30 definitely
01:33:38
definitely believable that you're 24
01:33:39
aren't you aren't you busy doing Tik
01:33:41
toks like
01:33:43
pregame uh yeah it's just a bit of fun
01:33:46
you know you sometimes I cringe in
01:33:49
myself watching that but it's out of
01:33:51
your comfort zone you have to do some
01:33:53
fun stuff sometimes so um it takes your
01:33:56
mind off the seriousness exactly and um
01:34:00
I guess with I don't know my young
01:34:03
personality sometimes I've got heaps of
01:34:05
friends my age and then I've also got
01:34:07
heaps of like young young young friends
01:34:09
as well um so depending on my vibe the
01:34:13
day depends on who I hang out with as
01:34:15
well so um yeah I don't necessarily feel
01:34:19
dirty sometimes I like go gosh I can't
01:34:22
believe I am um but I just try and
01:34:25
remind myself like I've got so many more
01:34:27
years ahead of me and just because I'm
01:34:28
30 like who cares yeah and I'll tell you
01:34:32
something you from um the perspective of
01:34:34
being 50 now um You you I I still feel
01:34:38
young in my mind like you you still feel
01:34:41
young in your mind your mind doesn't
01:34:42
really sort of age necessarily like you
01:34:44
evolve and you change of course but your
01:34:46
mind doesn't really change and I feel
01:34:47
like yeah if you put that out there like
01:34:49
that aura of like I'm young young and
01:34:51
I'm still like you know people like a
01:34:54
lot of people don't believe I'm 30 until
01:34:56
I tell them I'm 30 so again it's as
01:34:59
you're as old as you feel and why like
01:35:02
why does age matter anyway you know it's
01:35:05
what you do with it yeah but I suppose
01:35:07
from a like a a high performance
01:35:08
sporting pers perspective you you must
01:35:10
be aware that you're probably closer to
01:35:12
the end than the start yes which is like
01:35:16
sad yeah is it yeah cuz I'm like I know
01:35:19
I've been in it for like five years is
01:35:21
but I also feel like I just started the
01:35:24
other day and I know how quickly time
01:35:26
goes by so um
01:35:31
bodywise I feel like I want to push for
01:35:33
another world cup which is four years
01:35:36
away um I wouldn't want to finish but
01:35:39
depending on how the body and I would
01:35:41
want to go out on my own terms as well
01:35:43
so um definitely aiming for another four
01:35:46
years and knowing how quickly time goes
01:35:48
by I want to try and enjoy it as much as
01:35:50
I can um so but hopefully the body can
01:35:54
hold out longer who knows yeah would
01:35:55
that be the dream four more years and
01:35:57
then finish on your own terms at 34
01:35:59
chapter closed well it depends on what
01:36:01
goes on on my life outside you know um
01:36:05
we've got like a few Ms and the team
01:36:07
who' probably have a different
01:36:08
perspective of what netball looks like
01:36:11
for them um and then you get young ones
01:36:13
who' got no idea you know very much
01:36:15
starting their Journey so I think for me
01:36:18
I've made Nick ball my priority for so
01:36:21
long
01:36:21
I know I need to start focusing on life
01:36:23
outside of netball a little bit more and
01:36:26
so I can't make those calls just yet at
01:36:29
the moment in terms of performance I
01:36:30
want to push for another four years you
01:36:32
never know I might get to 34 still be
01:36:34
single still only have netball so I
01:36:36
might want to push for longer or at that
01:36:38
point I might have a partner I might
01:36:40
want to settle down so you never know
01:36:42
yeah do do do you want to find a partner
01:36:44
or do you think you're quite happy on
01:36:45
your own I feel like Society puts a lot
01:36:46
of pressure on people especially when
01:36:47
you get to a certain age that you should
01:36:49
have a partner um you did mention before
01:36:51
just in passing that you're lonely
01:36:53
sometimes there's nothing wrong with I
01:36:55
don't think with being alone but being
01:36:57
lonely is not great yeah
01:36:59
um yeah uh it's very it's not very often
01:37:03
that I do feel lonely I think the only
01:37:05
times I do would probably be when you
01:37:08
want that that person or that like IM
01:37:12
like that hug or that person to go to or
01:37:14
just that that comfort that you don't
01:37:16
necessarily have because I don't have my
01:37:17
immediate family around me or you know
01:37:20
when you go to events
01:37:21
you don't have that plus one to go with
01:37:24
um so there's very few times that I do
01:37:28
feel lonely and so I'm not willing to
01:37:30
offer up uh
01:37:33
or yeah I'm want I'm wanting the right
01:37:37
person in the right time I'm not willing
01:37:39
to offer up my time and unnecessary
01:37:42
effort um for those few moments that I
01:37:45
feel
01:37:46
lonely if if you if you go out with
01:37:49
someone how how long do you give it
01:37:50
before you know like before you know if
01:37:52
there's a spark there or not uh I'm a
01:37:54
feeling person um like obviously have to
01:37:59
be attracted to some degree to that
01:38:01
person but I'm very much a feeling
01:38:03
person um and I can I can probably tell
01:38:07
within the first few dates um whether I
01:38:11
can see it going anywhere um but I
01:38:14
always try and give things the benefit
01:38:16
of the doubt and I try and you know see
01:38:19
where it goes um so yeah I think feeling
01:38:24
wise because I'm a feeling person quite
01:38:25
quickly first few dayses that's quite
01:38:27
generous I thought I expected you to say
01:38:29
like first few minutes almost like it
01:38:32
seems like you're you're a lady that
01:38:34
doesn't want to waste a minute of time
01:38:35
that you got yeah but I'm also
01:38:39
um uh like that benefit of Doubt kind of
01:38:42
thing like the person I am when you
01:38:45
first meet me might not necessarily be
01:38:47
the true meet because you know you might
01:38:48
be nervous or was something going on or
01:38:50
whatever so do try and give it actually
01:38:54
that time and effort because you don't
01:38:56
want to be like n n n and dismiss it too
01:38:59
quickly something yeah so I'm
01:39:02
also like give it the time that it needs
01:39:05
and just like just like Dame noan gave
01:39:07
you the time you need after your first
01:39:09
test exactly bad first impression but
01:39:12
you you came good yeah exactly and like
01:39:15
I mean who knows I know nothing about
01:39:17
like you know love and that kind of
01:39:20
stuff I'm like
01:39:21
some people say it's love at first sight
01:39:23
others say it's something you develop
01:39:25
and you build into I'm like who knows I
01:39:28
think everybody's different so I'm just
01:39:30
winging it yeah are you are you
01:39:32
religious I am yes I grew up Christian
01:39:35
so got those values behind me as well
01:39:39
um but yeah and I think that's also
01:39:42
shaped me into the person I am as well
01:39:45
the way I think and the way I do things
01:39:47
as well um but I know there's a wide
01:39:50
world out there and I I I definitely
01:39:52
don't judge I'm not you know you do you
01:39:55
I'll do me happy with that kind of thing
01:39:57
you know so as long as I get along with
01:39:59
you and I you know connect with you
01:40:02
that's what what's important to me when
01:40:03
I like build friendships or
01:40:05
relationships so um but yeah very big
01:40:08
growing up that was a big aspect of my
01:40:10
life and and shaped me in the in my
01:40:13
values and morals and and how I think
01:40:15
about things yeah and now you live in a
01:40:16
city called Christ's
01:40:19
Church yeah a more religious sounding
01:40:23
place oh it's cool oh no I wondered
01:40:25
because I've read a few interviews with
01:40:26
you and you you use some phras phrases
01:40:28
like um Bliss quite a bit and um you you
01:40:32
talk about your Creator and stuff so I
01:40:33
thought and you just seem like a good a
01:40:36
good person as well so I thought maybe
01:40:38
there's some religious backing there
01:40:40
yeah yeah um but like also acknowledging
01:40:43
you know um there's a lot of other
01:40:46
people that that NE aren't necessarily
01:40:48
and I think when you are like yes I'm
01:40:50
religious people can be like oh like are
01:40:52
you judgy all that kind of stuff don't
01:40:54
don't try and RAM it down my throat yeah
01:40:56
yeah so I think I'm very big on that
01:40:58
like that's not my role to do at all um
01:41:02
it's fine for you yeah that's cool and
01:41:05
could you could you date someone shorter
01:41:06
than
01:41:07
you I'm asking for a couple of friends
01:41:09
who may not be
01:41:11
as what's your height your 12 um incen
01:41:14
is 184 yeah so
01:41:19
um I actually I went on a few dates with
01:41:22
a with a guy that was shorter than me
01:41:25
and um beautiful guy like gentleman
01:41:28
absolutely green flags like lovely
01:41:32
um and we still joke about it because
01:41:34
we're still in touch like just because
01:41:36
it didn't work out doesn't mean like I
01:41:37
still enjoy company yeah um and we still
01:41:41
joke about it but I'm like it's nothing
01:41:44
to do with the person and I think that's
01:41:48
sometimes hard to explain to them I am
01:41:51
tall so I come across big and I like
01:41:55
feeling small and I I would like to feel
01:41:57
small so um it's probably more so a
01:42:01
personal um is issue I'm dealing with
01:42:05
that I'd probably want my partner to be
01:42:07
taller than me yes are are you quite
01:42:10
self-conscious of your height no no I'm
01:42:12
not um used to be at school I hated it I
01:42:16
also used to never yeah I never wore
01:42:19
heels um um oh my gosh I like my
01:42:22
wardrobe is full of heels now I don't
01:42:24
care I wear heels ever like platforms
01:42:26
I'm always wearing platform shoes um no
01:42:30
not anymore I I love my height now I
01:42:33
absolutely enjoy it um a lot hard of
01:42:37
finding a guy that's taller than me
01:42:38
though especially when I love wearing
01:42:40
heels but again it's I know if the right
01:42:44
person comes along and I have th that
01:42:46
feeling towards them and they happen to
01:42:48
be shorter than me oh cross that bridge
01:42:51
when we get there you need to you need
01:42:53
to start hanging out at breaker's
01:42:54
training
01:42:55
camp gosh oh I know Ron's always like
01:42:59
you need to find yourself an athlete and
01:43:00
I was like well yes and no I'm sure
01:43:03
there's tall people that's not athletes
01:43:05
yeah hey well I'm really excited to see
01:43:06
what the future um brings for you and
01:43:08
I'm really excited to hear that your
01:43:10
goal is to keep playing for as long as
01:43:12
your body allows because you've got so
01:43:14
much to give and I can't thank you
01:43:16
enough for coming over today the morning
01:43:18
after your 50th game for the silver F
01:43:20
it's been great to finally meet you oh
01:43:21
gosh back to normal life you know thank
01:43:23
you so much for having me I always love
01:43:25
having a bit of a chat and um because
01:43:29
when you have these kind of discussions
01:43:30
with people sometimes you realize or
01:43:33
notice things about yourself you didn't
01:43:35
before because people tend to ask you
01:43:37
questions you might not have thought
01:43:38
about or have voiced out in the open so
01:43:41
um I love having these chats you learned
01:43:43
so much about yourself as well has has
01:43:45
there been anything that you can think
01:43:46
of from this chat or is it sort of like
01:43:47
on the flight home later today that
01:43:49
you're probably on the flight
01:43:51
yeah I'll be
01:43:52
thinking what I like did I make myself
01:43:57
look really
01:43:58
stupid oh no absolutely not absolutely
01:44:01
not if in these conversations if
01:44:03
anyone's going to make themselves look
01:44:04
stupid it's likely to be me oh god um I
01:44:06
always go into these chats um assuming
01:44:08
I'm the dumbest person in the room and
01:44:10
it's uh I think it's a good way to go
01:44:11
about it um Karen burer you are a great
01:44:14
New Zealander oh thank you can I can we
01:44:17
call you a New Zealander you're newand I
01:44:19
yeah like 12 years you know I've pretty
01:44:22
much that's why I'm always saying I'm
01:44:23
going home wherever I'm going I'm going
01:44:25
home so I'm fortunate um and blessed to
01:44:28
have so many homes um so I definitely
01:44:31
call New Zealand home as well yeah yeah
01:44:33
cool hey best of luck for the future
01:44:35
awesome thank
01:44:37
[Music]
01:44:45
you
