Helping others achieve goals

Vilimaina Davu. Photo / Michael Craig

Recruited from Fiji for her netball ability, Vilimaina Davu now helps Kiwis find jobs.

Former Silver Fern Vilimaina Davu was one of the most recognisable figures in New Zealand sport and, eight years after retiring, her trademark smile is still instantly familiar.

Davu played 61 tests for New Zealand in a career that included a world championship title in 2003 and a Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2006.

She now works as a recruitment consultant in Auckland and finds her clients regularly do a double take when they meet her.

"When they walk in, they try to work it out for themselves," she says laughing. The penny usually drops when she slides her card across the table. "They say, 'oh yeah, that's right, that's you.' It's quite humbling."

The former goal keep meets a broad range of people in a standard working day.
"We do our best to accommodate people's skillsets and backgrounds, and place them in industries where their skills match," she says.

The core skill of the job - placing people in new situations - was a familiar concept to her.

Davu had amassed 58 caps for Fiji by the time she arrived in New Zealand in 1999 for a trial with the Canterbury team.

"It was eye-opening," she says of the change. "Coming from the hot, sunny weather to cold Christchurch - everyone thought I was crazy."

She was 22 when she boarded the plane and had no idea she was about to embark on an entirely different life.

"I was only invited to trial for Canterbury. Knowing the squad they had, I thought to myself, 'I'll do my best, and if I'm not good enough, I'll be going back to Fiji'."

The humility wasn't false. Davu had packed enough clothes for only a short stay.

"I was on my own with a pair of runners," she laughs.

Settling into a gloomy Christ-church winter meant buying a set of warm clothes, but the bigger challenge was in adapting to the food - or more specifically, the high-carb, low-protein food of a professional athlete.

"After a tough training, I got home and my flatmate said, 'your dinner is in the oven and the rest is in the fridge'. I was hungry. In Fiji, I would have three big meals a day. I thought to myself it would be a roast, so I was all excited. And when I opened the oven, it was a bowl of pasta. When I opened the fridge, it was a bowl of salad. I was so upset, I went to bed with no food.

Vilimaina Davu was a formidable goal keep for the Silver Ferns. Photo / Getty Images

"My flatmates turned around and said, 'Vili, forget about the chop suey, taro and heavy food you have at home'."

She never quite did, but she was able to adjust eventually, despite bouts of homesickness.

"In the first three months, I wanted to pack my bags and go home. [But] my dad said, 'tough it out and see where it can take you'. I'm glad that advice stuck with me."

Despite her on-court success, Davu seems most proud of the life she was able to make for
herself in a new country.

"It was a huge change, having to move to New Zealand on my own [with] my family back in Fiji. It was a change of everything - food, lifestyle and training.
"It moulded me, shaped me to the person I am now."