Netball: Fastnet may be fast track back to Ferns

Anna Thompson. Photo / Getty Images

For most top netballers in this country, a phone call from Ruth Aitken is something they dream about. For Anna Thompson, it was one of the worst moments of her career.

The 24-year-old Canterbury Tactix goal attack had played for the Silver Ferns since 2008 and was seen as a strong contender for the Commonwealth Games team, especially when experienced attackers like Jodi Brown and Paula Griffith became unavailable.

After the July selection camp players were told to wait by their phones. Aitken rang that evening.

"She said it was really close but unfortunately they didn't see me in the 12," she remembers.

"Obviously I was gutted. It was devastating and I was very upset. When you get that phone call - 'sorry you haven't made it' - your jaw drops and your heart races. I grieved for a couple of days.

"After the phone call I was thinking - should I have done this, should I have done that? I felt I gave everything I could."

Many experts were surprised at the selection of uncapped Aucklander Grace Rasmussen; Rasmussen had been sharing court time with Jenny May-Coffin at the Mystics and was picked in the unfamiliar goal attack position.

The 22-year-old has had some court time but may not be ready to join the fray in a pressure-cooker game such as the semifinal against Jamaica on Tuesday. Questions still hover over her shooting.

Three months on, Thompson is philosophical: "It was probably as unpleasant for Ruth making that call as it was for me. In a way you can use it as a reality check."

Told to work on her speed, Thompson has a training programme aiming to increase her pace and power.

She was one of the standouts at last week's national provincial championship finals, leading Canterbury to a 53-52 win in the final. She made the tournament team.

Canterbury coach Tania Hoffman feels 1.75m Thompson is a smooth, deceptively quick mover on court: "She glides along and then pops through when needed - similar to [former Fern] Margaret Forysth or [Australian] Susan Pratley. She opens the court up really well for the other players and runs our circle."

A moment of magic in the semifinal against Southland showed the Thompson touch. She faked right, then sneaked left behind her marker to receive the centre pass. Another quick feint, then she twisted the other way before firing a bullet 20m pass to her goal shoot under the hoop.

Thompson hails from Rangiora in North Canterbury. She remembers "freezing" Saturday mornings, so cold they were allowed to wear tracksuit pants out on court. A member of the New Zealand team that won the World Youth Championships in 2005, she has played for the Tactix for the past three seasons and made her Ferns debut against the World Seven last year, after first making the squad in 2008.

Known as 'Spanner', she is the quintessential local girl made good. "She is one of the more famous ones in town," says coach Hoffman. "She is very well known and one of our own. Homegrown talent is very important to us and she is the epitome of that."

A city bar has a cocktail - 'Spannerlicious' (mango, berries, lemon, Red Bull and vodka) - named after her. The coach agrees that, in terms of a Christchurch profile, Thompson could be the female equivalent of Dan Carter - though Thompson laughs at the thought:"Surely there is something better than that ... being compared to a rugby player".

It has not been a vintage year. Apart from the Ferns disappointment, the Tactix lost 12 of their 13 games in the ANZ Championship - but Thompson is a near-certainty for the Fastnet team to go to England in November. The team will be named on October 19, with only fringe Silver Ferns set to be involved.

"I played some of my best netball this season for the Tactix and I have improved a lot. I'm a bit different to the other shooters - that can work in my favour. Hopefully in the future there will be some positive phone calls."