Netball: Grace shooting for the stars

The old saying "one person's misfortune is another's gain" aptly describes netballer Grace Namana's place at this year's Transtasman Secondary Schools Netball Tournament.

Up until last week the 17-year-old was named in the Aotearoa Maori team to compete at this week's tournament being held in Rotorua.

On Sunday night she got a call from New Zealand Secondary Schools coach Marianne Delaney to say she would be swapping her red Aotearoa uniform for a black New Zealand secondary schools strip.

The former Rotorua teenager got her first run with the team yesterday in their resounding 68-8 win over New Zealand Area Schools team.

Grace, who played in the second and third quarter at both goal attack and goal shoot respectively said it was a huge opportunity.

"I'm so grateful for this opportunity and I'm lucky that I was picked and I'm sure it will help me in my future netball wherever I go."

The side jumped out to a 16-1 lead in the first quarter and when she came on in the second quarter, there were a few nerves the St Paul's College student admitted.

"For the first minute I was a bit nervous but then I got over it and then excitement kicked in and I was playing with amazing girls and they supported you and you support them. It was great."

Two of those great players were co-captains Rotorua's Samantha Sinclair and Jamie-Lee Price. Jamie-Lee is the daughter of former Warriors captain Steve Price. The pair were stand-outs in a team packed with stars.

The side had a 31-2 lead at halftime and managed to increase their momentum in the third and fourth quarter, eventually finishing with a 68-8 win.

Grace's shooting stats were impressive, missing only two shots from 16 attempts.

The Ngati Kahungunu descendant said she preferred playing goal shoot but was happy to play wherever her coach thought was best for the team.

"That's my position I play most so it was nice to go back to the position where you always play."

Coach Delaney said she was happy with Grace's performance. "She's a hard worker, she was one of the ones who went through the whole trial process and worked hard on her fitness."