Netball: Van Dyk's goal is gold

By JULIE ASH

When you meet her you cannot help but like her.

Bubbly Silver Fern shooter Irene van Dyk is absolutely delightful - so much so you actually wonder how she manages to transform herself into one of the world's best shooters when she steps onto the court.

And like so many other shooters who will line up in Jamaica for the world championships next month, van Dyk is not only aiming for the goal - but also for the gold medal.

"We really want to get that gold medal," said van Dyk, who will be competing in her third world championships.

"We are getting stronger and stronger every time we go out on court.

"I think we are right up there with Australia and it will just come down to who is having the better game at the time. I don't think Australia are five goals better than us, but in saying that I don't think we are five goals better than them."

Growing up on a farm just out of Johannesburg, van Dyk, who will be 31 next week, started playing netball when she was nine.

"I wasn't any good at it, actually," she said. "But playing in a little farm school there wasn't a lot of players, so they had to use me.

"I started off as a shooter and stayed there through high school. Then, when I was 18, I had this growth spurt and they turned me into a defender and I played defence for two years.

"Then, when I started studying, they had no idea who I was, so when they asked me what position I played I told them I was a goal shoot and had never played defence before. So that is how I got out of defence."

Van Dyk made the South African team in 1994.

"South Africa had been in isolation for 28 years," she said.

"That was the first team who were allowed to go to play overseas. So it was a biggie. We went to Britain and played England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland."

However, it was a tour to New Zealand in the late 1990s that changed van Dyk's life.

"We walked around Wellington and it was so clean, and the people were so friendly. I went back home to [husband] Christie and said that place must be the closest to heaven that you will ever get."

In 2000, van Dyk, Christie and their young daughter Bianca decided to make New Zealand their home.

"It was an easy choice, especially now looking back. Christie said the other day that it was the best move we had ever made. Coming from him, an Afrikaans boy who thought he would struggle to make a living and get used to the language, it just turned my heart warm."

But van Dyk's move to New Zealand wasn't all plain sailing. Eyebrows were raised when, after just one season with the Shakers, she was named in the Silver Ferns

"I don't think I deserved the flak that I got," she said.

"It is not easy to leave your family and your roots behind and make a new life in another country. I think people need to be a bit more open-minded.

"If I was just here to play netball for a year or two then take off, then by all means give me us much flak as you want to. But this is a lifestyle move. This is forever. I am definitely a New Zealander."

Having now played more than 30 games for New Zealand, van Dyk is the first to admit her game has changed significantly.

"The first time I played for New Zealand it was such an eye-opener," she said. "The ball got to the circle edge in about a second and I was still standing in exactly the same spot. I'll never forget it. Julie Seymour had the ball and she said to me: 'Irene, are you going to move?'

"I was like 'hold that thought,' and kind of went sprinting off, thinking 'where am I going?' Normally I would have about six seconds before the ball came my way.

"But here the game is just so fast.

"Because of that, I think my vision has got better. I have had to react to these fast players coming down the court.

"They put the ball into the space where they want me to go and that looks flash. So it is definitely the players around me who make me look good."

To help adapt to such speed, van Dyk decided to leave the Shakers and play for the Magic in this year's national league - travelling from Wellington to Hamilton for training.

"I just wanted to play with fast mid-courters. Jenny-May [Coffin] and Amigene [Metcalfe] are really fast. I sort of thought if I can prepare myself to be ready when they come down the court, it will help prepare me to play better alongside the likes of Anna Rowberry and Temepara Clark. Because, good heavens, those girls are fast."

Fast they may be, but whether they can notch up nearly a decade of international netball like van Dyk remains to be seen.

"I am not getting any younger, so to speak, but my husband always says to me 'honey, you can play until you are 50 because you are still like the first day you started playing and you love the sport.'

"I haven't got any injuries, I am still having so much fun, my family believes in me and I love it, so I am definitely not retiring yet."

Irene van Dyk

Date of birth: June 21, 1972.

Place of birth: South Africa.

Occupation: Teacher.

Position: Goal shoot.

Height: 1.9m.

Caps: 72 for South Africa, 35 for New Zealand (before series against England).

Career highlights:

2000/03: Silver Ferns.

1994/99: South Africa.

2003 Bay of Plenty/Waikato Magic.

2000/02 Capital Shakers.