KEY POINTS:
When Leana De Bruin first arrived in New Zealand to play netball, she was simply "the other South African". She came in the wake of her friend and Protea teammate Irene van Dyk, and for years remained in her shadow.
"I wasn't a superstar like Irene and I
think people expected me to be. It was really hard because I felt I was disappointing people," de Bruin says.
Six years on, de Bruin has muscled up, become fleet of foot, and jumped out of the shadows to become arguably New Zealand's best defensive player. This is her year to be a superstar in her own right.
She's overcome that self-deprecation and, with the help of Netball New Zealand's intensive support network, has grown into a stronger, faster, fitter netballer than she was in South Africa (where she played 34 tests).
"Being on defence it's harder - you've got to go look for the ball rather than getting fed the ball. I realise I have a different job than [Irene]," she says.
"I was 24 when I came to New Zealand and I had really bad habits from playing the South African style. The hardest thing was the speed of the game - I was very tall but I didn't have any muscles to keep up.
"I was 'the Kamikaze Kid'. Yvonne Willering still laughs about the way I was. In South Africa I went for 2km runs sometimes and if I did a circuit at the gym I thought I'd worked hard. I didn't need to be fast - I relied on my height.
"We are so fortunate here. Since November, we've had new trainers who've found new ways for us to improve. In South Africa, we had nothing like that."
De Bruin, 29, has been working on her speed, jumping and recovery on court - "if I go for an intercept and miss, I can get back into the circle faster".
She's living up to her Afrikaans nickname Vlooi (Flea) and can now jump higher, employing her improved leg strength.
Her willingness to learn is one of the traits impressing Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken.
"She has a wonderful work ethic and a fantastic sense of team. She's really blossomed in the last couple of years," Aitken says.
Blossomed to the point where she should be first-choice goal defence for the Ferns as the defending world champions establish formidable new combinations after Vili Davu's retirement.
"Vili and I understood each other so well, but Casey [Williams] and Joline [Henry] play a different style. [Anna] Scarlett is in their face all the time, but I'm a looser marker. We have to find a middle ground where both defenders on court feel comfortable," she says.
Next week's tour to Britain, meeting Australia, England and Wales, may find the Ferns rusty to start with, de Bruin concedes.
"But we'll sort it out, no problem. A loss at this stage would be an eye-opener and we have enough time to sort it out before the world champs. Even if we win every game on tour, we will still have to take a step up to stay ahead."
Taking a two-week break from the National Bank Cup and her leading Force team after this weekend's clash with the Flames won't be easy.
"It's hard swapping your Force cap for your Ferns cap, then back again. You're desperate to win the cup for the last time, but on the other hand you want to be the first team to win the world championships twice in a row," she says.
Off court, de Bruin is doing a post-graduate diploma in small business studies at Massey University, complementing her communications degree, so she can help her husband, Quinton, with his new internet photo storage business, Photomax.
The van Dyks introduced de Bruin to her future husband, and de Bruin and van Dyk remain close friends.
But de Bruin admits she is still harbours some envy of van Dyk - who's just moved on to a lifestyle block north of Wellington. De Bruin, the girl raised on a farm in the Free State, dreams of living on the land again too. As long as it's in New Zealand.
Leana De Bruin
*Positions: GD, GK.
*Height: 190m.
*Born: July 9, 1977.
*Occupation: Student.
*NZ caps: 20.
*South African Caps: 34.
*Playing history: Silver Ferns squad 2002-07.
*Ferns debut: February 2003 tour of Britain.
*National Bank Cup: Sting 2001, Shakers 2002, Magic 2003-04, Force 2005-07.
