The prospect of being an elite athlete at the top of their game may seem like a fulltime job for some. But for Mystics youngsters Grace Nweke and Tayla Earle, playing netball in the ANZ Premiership is only a piece of the puzzle.
Both are also working towards university degrees;Nweke a Bachelor of Commerce, and Earle a Bachelor of Sport and Recreation.
It's all part of a fine balancing act for both athletes, who sometimes surprise even themselves by how they manage to juggle the busy ANZ Premiership season and university work alongside social and family lives.
"I feel like I just get by every semester with good grades and a good season," Nweke says.
After a standout season last year, when she broke the ANZ Premiership scoring record and made her Silver Ferns debut, Nweke has a lot to be happy about.
Both her and Earle's performances in 2021 were major contributors to the Mystics' success; the Auckland side taking out both the minor premiership and the grand final for the first time in franchise history.
"The past couple of years have kind of seen the team grow and we've had some tough seasons, obviously it's been better recently, and so I feel like there's a winning culture here that we didn't really have when I first started," Nweke says.
It's a winning feeling that both players are embracing when looking forward to the year of netball and university ahead.
For Earle, who is also a qualified personal trainer, netball slots perfectly into her love of sport and fitness.
"I enjoy what I'm studying and so I think that it kind of comes naturally and a lot of it actually makes sense. It crosses over with netball and sometimes you just click as to why we're training a certain way or why we're doing this exercise in the gym," Earle says.
"I feel like it's really correlating which I'm really lucky about."
Mystics' Tayla Earle in action. Photo / Photosport
And while Nweke's Bachelor of Commerce may seem further from the netball court, she's eager to see how her two passions can work to provide her with a career after netball - whenever that may be.
"I think that's the exciting part, seeing the way that my playing netball and my specialisation can help me or the way those two things can marry up and create a role for me," she says.
"My dad has always instilled that importance of education in all of my siblings and so I've always known that no matter what I did in sport I wanted to get a degree and study. I love learning so it's been really massive for me."
2022 is proving no less of a challenge for even the most organised, with a condensed ANZ Premiership season making for multiple two-game weekends for the Mystics. Not to mention the added pressure of the impending squad section for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
For Nweke, who took the court for the Silver Ferns for the first time in 2021 and travelled to England with the team for the Quad Series earlier this year, making that Commonwealth Games squad plays on her mind.
"I'd be lying if I said that I haven't been thinking about it but it's more of a quiet motivator," she says.
"It's definitely not worrying me, or that I'm putting pressure on myself, but I am aware that obviously it's a Comm Games year and that's what you're building towards and that's the ultimate goal. Hopefully with a good season under my belt, I'll be up for selection."
While Earle is yet to don the black dress, she's philosophical about potential international selection.
"I know that my time will come around and when I get the opportunity I just have to step up and take it with two hands.
"It's definitely something that I want to strive for and it's something that I want to work as hard as I can for."
In the meantime, getting to do what you love both on and off the court is something Nweke and Earle aren't taking for granted - not matter how busy it makes their lives.
'I just think heaps of the girls have other commitments," Earle says, "And I feel like if you want to do something, you'll do it."
