Netball: Child prodigy back for Ferns' tour - to Dad's roaring delight

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Sheryl Clarke's father, Lafeta, screamed his lungs out when he heard his daughter had been given a second chance to play for the Silver Ferns.

Lafeta, usually a more reserved man, had been proud when netball's child star of the 1990s was chosen to captain Samoa at last year's world championships.

He had played for the Manu Samoa rugby side, but nothing could rival the news that Sheryl had been recalled to the New Zealand side after spending three years in the doldrums.

"I've never heard my dad screaming before. No one could believe it," the 23-year-old said.

But no one was happier than Clarke herself, a Silver Fern in 1997 who never played a test.

Tomorrow, she heads to South Africa determined to win her first cap for New Zealand.

As a teenager, Clarke was touted as New Zealand's next great defender, likened to the legendary Wai Taumaunu.

The sister of former All Black Eroni Clarke, she made history as the first player to win New Zealand netball's top three titles when she was still a seventh-former at Auckland Girls' Grammar.

But, after being dropped from the Silver Ferns without playing a test, she began to question why she was still playing the game.

The past three years have been difficult for Clarke, who could not understand why her form had slumped.

"It really hit me hard. I wasn't playing well and I had to take a good look at myself - why was I still playing?

"But I was still hanging on to my dream to play for the Silver Ferns."

Clarke attributes her turnaround to a new coach, coming under the guidance of Australian Maria Lynch in the Northern Force this year.

"It was really refreshing for me. Everything we did was new.

"But I just felt my game had finally matured. When I first made the Ferns I was just a kid."

She still did not hold out huge hope of making the New Zealand side again this year.

"I couldn't sleep the night before the team was named - I was so nervous.

"When I heard I burst into tears. It was unbelievable."

She joins an elite club as one of six international captains in the Silver Ferns to play Australia and South Africa in the next fortnight.

Irene van Dyk has captained the Proteas, new defender Villimaina Davu led Fiji, and three players - Lesley Nicol, Belinda Colling and Bernice Mene - have been at the helm of the Ferns.

But Clarke was not that keen about her first big captaincy job.

"It was pretty hard being one of the youngest in the Samoan side and trying to tell them what to do, especially when I'm not an outspoken person," she said.

"But it was still a great experience - I got to play against Australia for the first time. And it really made me step up another level.

"I'm dying to play a test for New Zealand now, especially since it's the first time we've ever toured South Africa.

"But if I don't get to do it this time, I'll just keep trying. I'll keep going till this body says stop.

"These good old Samoan bones have done me proud so far."