Nothing but net

By HELEN HARVEY helen.harvey@tnl.co.nz - Taranaki Daily News | Thursday, 20 November 2008

 
Adine Wilson

WHEN she was at school in Hawera, Adine Wilson, 29, would begin the year by writing down her goals. Every year, starting from when she was eight, she would write she wanted to be a Silver Fern and a lawyer.

But it wasn't until she was 16 that she seriously believed wearing the Silver Fern might be a realistic aim. And it was only earlier that year that she realised she was any good at netball.

"My parents were very good at keeping me humble."

They told her when she was older that she had always been good at netball and people used to comment.

"But they never used to say it to me, obviously, because they used to want to make sure my feet were kept firmly on the ground."

It wasn't until she was at Hawera High School and named in the Taranaki open team that she thought "Oh, I might not be too bad at this game. That's probably when I started taking it more seriously as well. Before that, it was just all about having fun, really."

That year, she went to the National Championships in Christchurch. At the end of the tournament, the New Zealand squad and the Under-21 team were named. Officials called out these "amazing" names Belinda Colling, Donna Loffhagen, Bernice Mene, and Anna Rowberry then they called out Adine Harper.

"I thought, what the? I didn't even know there was an Under-21 team, let alone me being named in it with what I thought were the most special players in the world. I was completely blown away by that.

"That's when I thought making the Silver Ferns might be a possibility."

Since then, netball has been a roller-coaster ride, she says.

"It's not smooth sailing. Every sportperson has ups and downs, but I think you have to have the downs to really appreciate the highs. And I've been lucky enough to have a number of highs."

Definitely more highs than lows, she says, thinking of winning a World Cup, a Commonwealth Games gold medal, being named captain.

The highs and a few downs, including not winning the World Cup, are detailed in her new book, Adine Wilson: Skills and Performance.

Publisher Hodder Moa approached Adine a couple of years ago and told her there were no netball books out there and retailers were asking for them.

"It was fun. It's funny sitting down chatting about your life and sort of reminiscing and things. I enjoyed it."

But it's kind of nerve-wracking as well, she says. "I hope people want to buy it and will be interested."

Adine spent last week on a road trip from one end of the country to the other signing books.

It was a full-on week, especially with a six-month-old baby boy in tow.

But husband Jeff Wilson travelled with her and looked after Harper and when he took a couple of days off to go the the races, her mum was subbed in.

"I've always had support there, so Harper hasn't needed to be dragged around all the book signings and things."

Wednesday was Wanganui, Hawera, Stratford and New Plymouth. But despite being on home turf, Adine didn't have heaps of rellies turning up to the bookshops to see her. They all went to the hotel to see Harper.

"It's like, OK, I'm not important any more. No," she says, laughing, "That's fine." Growing up in Hawera was fantastic, she says.

"I had a rural upbringing. My parents lived in town, we had a big section, but all my family are from dairy farms, so we spent all our holidays on the dairy farms."

Every weekend was spent at netball courts or rugby fields or at athletic or swimming events.

"So if we weren't on the farm going down slippery slides down the gorge, then we were at a netball tournament somewhere."

Adine started playing netball when she was eight and also played touch, softball, basketball.

"I gave everything a go. I loved all sports, but netball was definitely my favourite. I'm not sure why it was. There was something about netball that I just loved."

She preferred team sports in general to individual pursuits, because she got too nervous.

Her dad played rugby for Taranaki at one point and Adine's mum played netball, so Adine and older sister Leah spent a lot of their childhood at the rugby field or the netball courts watching Mum and Dad.

Leah also played netball and the competition between them eventually caused a rift.

"I think we were both really competitive and fairly close in age as well, which was pretty hard on Leah. I think I was forever annoying her. She was, like, Would you just go away?" The sisters are now good friends and talk every other day.

"We definitely went through a rough patch, but I think that's fairly common for sisters."

In the middle of this family drama, Adine went to Dunedin to go to Otago University. A lot of the girls she played with in the New Zealand Under-21 team had told her she had to go to Otago it was the best varsity and lots of fun. It also had physical education, which she did as well as her law degree.

"I had an absolute ball. I would say the same thing now. Dunedin is amazing. If you're going to varsity, go to Otago. I was definitely sold."

Adine passed law and in 2003 was admitted to the bar.

It took time management to study and play netball. But, she says laughing, to be honest, being a student is not exactly like you're working. Students only have a few hours a day they have to be in class, so she could be flexible, she says.

"I like being busy. I don't think I could have just done the netball. It would have driven me nuts just netball, 100 percent of my focus, so I found it really good to have the study."

Adine played for the Otago Rebels, then the Southern Sting during their golden run.

"It was amazing. The community gets right behind you, amazing coach down there, great stadium."

But it was while she was playing for the Rebels that she got invited to a party put on by the Highlanders.

"A lot of the Highlanders didn't have partners at the time, so they thought it would be better to have a few girls at the party than just all boys. It was called the Islander night, because I think they thought we'd come along in leis and little bikini tops."

But the girls had a surprise for the rugby boys. They turned up dressed as the Fijian rugby team afros, rugby boots, the whole shebang.

Before the party, Adine knew who All Black Jeff Wilson was. It was hard not to. But he wasn't someone who she thought "Oh, Jeff Wilson, I have to meet him."

Jeff, on the other hand, had seen Adine play netball and thought she was someone he had to meet. At the party, with all the afros and get-up, it was hard to tell who was who and Jeff tapped a few girls on the shoulder asking which one was Adine.

"Ironically, I had number 14 on my back."

It was 1999 and both of them had world cups to play for.

"It was a very busy year. We managed to see each other 28 days in seven months, so it was amazing we were able to string a relationship together."

But they did and were married in 2006. A few marriages came out of that Islander party, she says.

"It was a very good night."

In New Zealand, the marriage of an All Black and a Silver Fern automatically makes the couple celebrities.

"Jeff and I don't think of ourselves as different to anyone else. We are no different to anyone else. Probably the only difference is we sometimes get asked for our autographs."

She may not think of herself as different, but Adine was recently on the front page of a women's magazine with baby Harper. It was hard to decide whether to do that or not. "It's nice to know people have a real interest. A lot of people wanted to see Harper and when we got married, people wanted to see the wedding. We only do those things when there is a real story behind it."

As well as introducing Harper, the story was that Jeff had just been appointed assistant coach for North Harbour. The couple now live in Christchurch, but rather than head north, they are moving to Invercargill. During the netball season, Adine will play for the Southern Steel and Jeff will commute to Auckland. Then, at the end of July or August, the family will move to Auckland.

Adine is looking forward to getting back on the court, she says.

"To be honest, I haven't missed netball at all and I still don't miss it at this stage, but I know by April next year, it will be great to have another challenge, as well as being a mum. So I'm definitely looking forward to it."

But at the moment, a return to the Silver Ferns isn't part of the plan though she has never said the R word. "I definitely haven't said I've retired." But she is concerned whether she'll be good enough and she doesn't know if she wants to make the commitment.

"I mean, if you could just turn up and play, it would be great, but there's a lot of other stuff with it. There're training camps, there's media, there's recovery session, there's physio. It's a huge commitment to play for the Silver Ferns and play your best, so it's whether I'm prepared to make those sacrifices to make that commitment."

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