Joan Hodson: Laura has that magic touch

COMMENT

Laura Langman, jeepers, what a player.

The 17-year-old thoroughly deserved her place in the New Zealand squad named at the end of the Smokefree championships.

After I saw her play for the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic in the National Bank Cup I knew she was special and I know that a lot of secondary schools that have played against her have thought she was pretty hot.

I did a coaching clinic for Netball New Zealand for the midcourters at the start of the year and she was outstanding. She is what I'd call a goer, someone who never lets up, so I was really pleased she got in the New Zealand squad.

I also thought Auckland Waitakere player Krystal Feterika-Opetaia was just tremendous throughout the tournament and must have been close to making the squad.

Another unlucky player was Waikato defender Casey Williams. I think she is much better than Leana du Plooy.

Overall the squad was fairly predictable. They had to put everyone in from the world championships - they are, after all, the world champions.

As for the final, I thought it was great. It was tough for Yvonne Willering after winning every game up to the final. But where I was sitting in the crowd, all everyone could talk about was how do you stop Irene van Dyk? Nobody else in the world can, so you can't blame Netball North for struggling in that department as well.

Waikato showed a lot of patience and they had so much faith in each other. Just look at the way Renee Jacobson, without ever looking, bombed the ball into Irene.

It is awesome when you see that. As for Jenny-May Coffin and Amigene Metcalfe, they are worth their weight in gold. As a result of their influence Laura Langman is now a national squad member.

What I liked about Netball North was their short, zippy passes and the angles that they played. There were some patches that were pretty breathtaking.

Overall it was a fantastic win for Waikato. My ears, however, are still recovering from those cowbells.

I think the format of the tournament worked well. In my day the winning team was the team that had players that could still run at the end of a gruelling week.

We used to play two games a day then a semifinal, then a final and then we also played North Island versus South Island. You were just dog-tired by the end of it.

One thing that did bother me throughout the past week was the way some coaches went about trying to entice players into joining their national league squads.

My understanding is a player cannot be approached during the national provincial champs. Yet some coaches did.

That makes me angry. There has got to be one rule for everyone. I have the utmost respect for most coaches but I just don't like the wheeling and dealing some of them are doing.

* Joan Hodson is a former Silver Fern and international umpire.