Netball: Key Kiwis who can seize the title

Irene van Dyk will be attending a record fifth world championships. Photo / APN

This year's tournament in Singapore will be the 13th edition of the netball world championships after the first one was held back in 1963 in Eastbourne, England.

Undoubtedly the sport's biggest showpiece, the Silver Ferns tell us what it means to them to be a part of a world championships.

The first-timer

Defender Katrina Grant, who debuted for the Silver Ferns in 2009, will be attending her first world championships in Singapore.

"What does going to a world championships mean to me? Everything.

"I remember when I was a little kid I watched that 1999 world championships final when [New Zealand] were up by like nine or 10 [and went on to lose to Australia] and I had to run out of the room - I was freaking out. It was horrible.

"But watching that then I knew that I wanted to be one day out there doing the job for my country.

"Winning gold in Delhi last year was amazing, but to win a world championships is the ultimate - we really want those back-to-back golds."

The comeback kid

Anna Scarlett was a junior member of the 2003 squad that won the world title in Jamaica. She was then controversially dropped from the squad in mid-2007, which saw her miss the Auckland world championships and prompted her to walk away from the game. After two and a half years on the professional beach volleyball circuit, Scarlett returned to netball last year and was re-selected for New Zealand side.

"Going to a world champs is particularly special for me because I spent that time away from netball and thought I wasn't going to come back. So to come back and have that renewed love for the game and to playing in another world champs is really exciting.

"Every person who plays top level sport wants to be the best in the world, and for a netballer that means winning a world championship. So getting the opportunity to go there and striving to be the best team in the world is huge."

The old-timer

Silver Ferns super-shooter Irene van Dyk will be attending a record fifth world championships in Singapore. This year's championships will be the 39-year-old's third tournament representing New Zealand, after playing for her native South Africa in the 1995 and 1999 events. It was at the 1995 world championships in Birmingham that she first caught the attention of the netballing world, leading her side to an upset win over the Ferns in pool play and going on to win silver. Now 16-years on she remains as big a star as ever.

"It's fantastic that I could hold on this long, it's very exciting. Man, time flies."

"I'm just incredibly lucky that I am still here and haven't had any injuries and the selectors still think I'm good enough.

"It never gets any less special. Every time you go to a world championship it is a fantastic achievement because it is a pinnacle event for every netballer and everyone wants to be on that world championship team."

"And knowing we have a chance to achieve something really amazing by winning back-to-back golds just makes it all the more exciting."

The coach

New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken had a charmed introduction to world championships, steering her side to a world title in her first tournament in 2003. She has since gone on to taste world championship heart-break in the 2007 tournament. It has left her all the more determined to coach her side to another win, in what many are tipping will be her last campaign with the national side.

"I'd have to say the freshness and the challenge and the excitement of having this opportunity has not waned at all."

"It's really exciting to be at another world championship. It's always a different group, but the same buzz, that's for sure.

"You probably just go in there with your eyes a little bit more wide open. I know the good and the bad that can come of it, but it is such a special occasion and it only comes round every four years - it's an amazing thing to be a part of."