It was like staring into mirrors of the past for Silver Fern's Joline Henry and Jodi Brown as they looked into the eyes of the 60 youngsters going through their paces at Springvale Stadium yesterday morning.
The two expat Wanganui internationals joined forces to run a special training session for the invited players, including a Q&A at the conclusion to discuss with them how to "get on the pathway" to a future career.
Local coaches each took specific drills with rotating groups of the 11-15-year-olds with the two stars, who have over 100 netball tests between them, dropping in over a player's shoulder to offer advice and encouragement.
Netball Wanganui administrators were grateful to the pair for giving up some rare holiday time, given in less then three weeks they will be joining their Silver Fern teammates flying out to the United Kingdom for two exhibition games against Scotland in Glasgow, ahead of matches with Jamaica, England and England A over a nine-day period.
"We were humming and harring about whether we'd get home [for Christmas]," said Henry, who raised the idea of the session with Brown while they were in camp.