Netball: Leaver's whole new school of thought

Since moving to Tu Toa school in Palmerston North, Brooke Leaver is no longer on

From the "path to destruction" to aspiring Silver Fern, New Zealand Secondary Schools shooter Brooke Leaver admits she has been through a mighty transformation in the past 18 months.

Leaver, the 16-year-old daughter of former Silver Fern Leonie and former New Zealand hockey international Mark, flies out to Australia today for next week's International Schoolgirls Netball challenge in Adelaide.

But she doubts that she would be on that plane were it not for a decision made at the beginning of last year to leave the safety net of home and move to a small and little-known correspondence school in Palmerston North called Tu Toa.

"I don't think I would have achieved what I have without Tu Toa. I honestly don't know where I'd be if I was still in Auckland," the young shooter said.

Struggling academically and unhappy with her school-life, Leaver looked to have fallen through the cracks of mainstream education, and as her mum puts it, "was on the path to destruction".

Leaver had tried two Auckland schools and neither had worked for her. She was demonstrating negative behaviour after falling well behind in the classroom and her parents were at their wits' ends. Then came a chance conversation between Leonie and Central Pulse coach Yvette McCausland-Durie, who suggested she might be able to help.

McCausland-Durie and her husband Nathan Durie set up Tu Toa, a small education initiative, six years ago, based on the concept of using sport as a catalyst to driving achievement in all other areas of life. The school, which has just 24 students enrolled through Years 9-13, is based out of Palmerston North's Massey University campus. Only youngsters who have the potential to represent New Zealand in their chosen sport are eligible to enrol.

They must also aspire to go on to tertiary education and wish to embrace Maori values and processes within a learning environment. It is here that Leaver has flourished.

"Ever since I moved schools to Tu Toa, it's been quite different, and I've seen a new side of learning and at the same time I'm finding out what it takes to be an elite athlete."

The school's netball programme is not for the faint-hearted. Leaver's weekly schedule includes two team practices a week, two skills sessions a week to be done in her own time, strength and conditioning sessions twice daily Monday to Thursday as well as shooting practice every day in her own time.

The students are also taught about the importance of nutrition and how it affects performance and all their meals are provided by the school. "It's pretty full-on, but you get used to it," said Leaver. "Before that I didn't know anything about the right way to train, so it has been a huge wake-up call. I didn't know the right food to eat, so coming to Tu Toa has given me a huge wake-up call to what I want to be and where I want to go with my netball."

It is a formula that clearly works. Despite their small size, Tu Toa last year won the national secondary schools title in Timaru, after toppling Leaver's old school, Mt Albert Grammar, in the final. In its five years, the co-educational correspondence school has qualified for the national netball finals every year, coming third in 2005 and 2007 and fourth in 2006.

With a new sense of direction, Leaver said she is keen to further her career and hopes to eventually play in the ANZ Championship, and beyond that, push for national honours.

Clearly, with both parents having played sport at the highest level, Leaver has always had the pedigree to make it as a top netballer. But the biggest transformation has been in her attitude, which McCausland-Durie said stems back to enjoying success in the classroom.

"What I've seen from her is that she was not angry, but somewhat an agitated personality," the Pulse coach said. "Things got to her really easily and I saw that probably present more often on the court - this sense of frustration, not in others, but herself.

"Now when I look at her she's a lot more composed. Confidence comes from a number of things and for her I think it comes back to education.

"She's had some success in the classroom and that has changed what the perceptions of her had been. She'd bought in to those perceptions and thought she may not have been able to achieve. "So that's changed her thinking so now she's realised 'god I don't need to be so aggressive about things'. Because that's really just a front to hold people back, really."

NZ secondary schools squad:

Tera-Maria Amani (Mt Albert Grammar, Auckland)
Jessica Bourke (Marist, Akld)
Kelsey Ashworth (Ashburton College)
Sophia Fenwick (Rangi Ruru Girls School, Christchurch)
Kirsten Hurley (St Kentigern College, Manukau City)
Brooke Leaver (Tu Toa, Palmerston North)
Stacey Peeters (St Peter's College, Gore)
Erikana Pedersen (Mt Albert)
Storm Purvis (Diocesan, Akld)
Toni Rinckes (Pakuranga College, Manukau City)
Harley Smith (Trident High School, Whakatane)
Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick (St Cuthbert's College, Auckland)