Netball: Harper plays things right to her limits

By Suzanne McFadden

New teenage Silver Fern Adine Harper doesn't do things by halves.

The determined 19-year-old is studying for two degrees - law and physical education - and can play every position on a netball court.

It's that attitude which caught New Zealand coach Yvonne Willering's attention and won her a place in the Ferns side to play South Africa in a three-test home series starting in a fortnight.

Harper won't be there to carry the bags, either.

With only three shooters in the side, the Hawera-raised but Otago-based utility player is certain to get court time.

Her shooting partners are her Rebels team-mate Belinda Colling and Donna Loffhagen, who starred in the circle with Harper for South in the Star Series.

Colling cannot speak highly enough of Harper.

"She's a really cool kid - so mature beyond her years," she said. "She has such a cool head on her and she's been thrown into a lot of sticky situations this season.

"Adine had to play every position, some of them for the first time, and she coped really well. She's amazing the way she pushes herself."

Harper, who made the Taranaki senior side at 15, has always thrown herself into things. As a 16-year-old she twice put her back out at training camps trying to play her way into the New Zealand team for the World Youth Cup.

Her enthusiasm earned her a place in the side, and orthotics in her netball shoes have cured the back pain.

The Otago University student cannot believe her rapid rise in the last couple of months since starring at goal defence for the Otago Rebels then playing centre and goal shoot for South.

Harper's rise into the New Zealand team was accelerated by injuries to two of the Ferns' veteran shooters, Teresa Tairi and Noeline Taurua.

There is no guarantee that Harper will still be there when Willering names her team for the September world championships. It will all depend on the fitness of Tairi and Taurua, and how well Harper plays in the Fisher and Paykel series.

Tairi had surgery to remove torn cartilage from her right knee last Friday - her third knee operation in five years. Taurua is resting with a ligament tear.

Willering said she will take just three shooters on this internal tour so borderline players like Jodi Te Huna and Jo Steed can get court-time through the New Zealand A side, who will play one match against South Africa.

It has allowed an extra defender in the side, with Northern Force's Lorna Suafoa earning a recall. Suafoa played at the Commonwealth Games but missed selection for Jamaica.

Team: Belinda Colling, Donna Loffhagen, Adine Harper, Sonya Hardcastle, Jenny May Coffin, Anna Rowberry, Julie Seymour, Lesley Nicol, Belinda Charteris, Bernice Mene, Lorna Suafoa, Linda Vagana.