Netball: Pint-sized player who's grown into her game

By JULIE ASH

Temperara Clark's netball career has come a long way since she started out as a seven-year-old playing in a car park.

The Silver Fern's introduction to the game did not come on some flash indoor court or even on a normal asphalt court. The first court Clark took to was much more basic than that.

"I played for a club and we used to play in the carpark of the Mangere town centre," she recalls. "The courts were just painted on the carpark area ... they're not there now."

And the position the 1.70m Clark started out in? Goal attack.

"Then I went to goal defence then I played goal keep in rep teams.

"Then everyone grew past me and I was pushed into the midcourt when I was about 16."

And it is the midcourt where the pint-sized Clark has made her mark.

Now one of the slickest midcourters in the game, Clark will be calling on all her strength and stamina when she lines up in Jamaica in her first world championship event.

"It is very exciting. I am really looking forward to getting over and being part of it."

Clark was part of the New Zealand team who beat Jamaica 2-1 in a three-test series in Jamaica last year and knows first hand how tough the tournament will be.

"It was definitely different over there," she said. "You imagine Jamaica as being this beautiful place but we were in Kingston and it was like a Third World country. You couldn't go out by yourself as it was too dangerous, which meant we spent a lot of time in our hotel.

"The stadium was like an old school gym and the crowd were so vocal. There was Jamaican music playing and every time you touched one of their players they'd boo and carry on.

"It will be a bit different this time because there will be a number of teams there, not just us. But it is going to be hard."

Clark first made the Silver Ferns in 1996 but missed out for the following three years and did not actually make her debut until 2000 in a one-off test against Australia.

"That was the game where they thrashed us by 26," she said. "I played for a quarter. It was terrible and wasn't exactly the best of debuts."

But the Silver Ferns made up for that dismal performance a year later, winning a tri-nations competition over Australia and South Africa in the republic.

New Zealand beat South Africa twice and Australia once.

Clark regards the 55-40 win over Australia as the best in her career.

"Beating Australia that year has definitely been the highlight," she said. "Being part of that team was great."

Clark missed out on last year's Commonwealth Games team and then chose to miss this year's tour to England because of work commitments.

But she muscled her way back in for the world champs, edging out Jenny-May Coffin.

"Being dropped is alway hard but then it is really rewarding when you work your butt off and get back in.

"I was so excited to be picked because there were so many good midcourt players."

As one of three mothers in the team, Clark said it is always difficult being away from her children [Jusdeane aged 9, and Erin 5].

"The kids are used to it now," she says. "I ring them up and say, 'Hi, how are you?' and they say, 'Good, do you want to speak to Nana?'

"So I am like, 'Okay, bye then.'

But come July, Clark knows her husband Wayne, and her kids, will be glued to the television.

"This tournament is like stepping into the unknown. It is not just New Zealand and Australia any more. There's Jamaica, England and even some of the island teams like Samoa. It is going to be very exciting."

Inside track:

* Name: Temepara Clark


* Born: Oct 23, 1975, Auckland


* Occupation: Works in sales/administration


* Height: 1.70m


* Positions: Centre, wing attack, wing defence


* Test caps: 21


* Career highlights:


1996, 2000/03 - Silver Ferns


2000/03 - Force


1999 - Counties Manukau Cometz


1998 - Auckland Diamonds.