An avid soccer player who was in the Hawke's Bay United training squad last season, he hasn't played much of the outdoor game since his diagnosis six months ago.
"It's not the worst type of cancer to get but it's the most easy one to tackle and bring under control," says the former Napier City Rovers and Taradale footballer.
In a cruel twist of odds, his younger brother, Aaron Ball, 20, an Eastern Technical Institute of Sport business degree student, was diagnosed with the same illness three years ago.
Daniel Ball hastens to add the form of cancer isn't hereditary, "just a bit of bad luck" that they have got it.
While Aaron opted for chemotherapy treatment in Palmerston North to win his battle, Daniel is opting to go without it after having the disease diagnosed at a much earlier stage than his brother.
"That means I'll have to have regular blood tests for the next three to five years," Ball explains, adding he didn't want to risk becoming infertile.
"I want to have children some day," he says, recalling the day he sat down with his GP who explained there was no easy way of telling him he had cancer.
In fact, his younger brother coming out at the end of the scary cancer tunnel inspires the elder Ball.
"If my brother can do it, I can, too," he says.
No doubt enjoyment on the futsal pitch or in any other aspect of life is imperative in Ball's newfound constitution.
"Staying positive takes you a long way. Cancer won't stop me pursuing my dreams. I'll just carry on as I am," says the man who made the national team in May to Tahiti, the first time he ever left New Zealand shores.
"It was just amazing. Nice beaches, great people," he says but emphasises keeping up his post-graduate primary teacher's studies at Massey University in Palmy North to solidify his sports and recreation degree is still a priority.
Not expecting a call up, when he received the email he thought Central Football futsal development officer Nathaniel Wright was taking the mickey.
National coach Scott Gilligan spotted him at a national tournament in Dunedin, inviting him to attend a training session in Auckland and the rest is history, albeit just shy of a year in futsal.
"Futsal helps players technically use both feet and creates an awareness of movement," he says.
"It helps develop your outdoor game with more touches and use of space."
Fellow Bay rep Tai Barham, studying in Wellington, and third-ranked goalkeeper Mitch Webber are also in the mix for the Thailand trip.
"After recently becoming Oceania champions, the Futsal Whites are looking forward to the Fifa World Cup in 2016. It is the teams No1 goal to qualify for this," says Wright, adding the Bay trio have a great chance to be part of the first Kiwi futsal team to ever qualify for the World Cup.
Two years in the futsal equation, Webber, 17, has played for the Futsal Whites in Tauranga, Auckland and Wellington on the roadshow.
The year 13 Havelock North High School pupil is also one of several glovemen for the Best Travel Havelock North Wanderers team competing in the Computercare Pacific Premiership soccer league in winter.
"I've been playing futsal for four years because it suited my style," says the teenager, enjoying the rapid end-to-end action that helps him hone his reflexes.
Off to Canterbury University next year to study engineering, Webber hopes to ply his trade in futsal in Europe on graduating.
"I decided to give up football because futsal is my No1 sport," he says.
