Catherine Latu in action for the Mystics against the Pulse. Photo / Getty Images
3. Was it difficult growing up in such a big family?
It was great. There were things we thought were crap at the time but in hindsight we loved it. In school holidays there was never enough money to go anywhere so we'd feel embarrassed going back to school and everyone else had been places and we hadn't been anywhere. We'd play outside all the time, or watch movies or sometimes go to the pools. My mum seemed always to be pregnant, she always had a small child to look after and my dad worked all the time. He still does - 6am to 7pm. He goes to the Islands to get workers for Kerifresh and he manages them. He's the most amazing man. Never wants to let anyone down.
4. What was dinnertime like?
We always had these big family feasts on a table that couldn't fit everyone of course. So as soon as you heard the word dinner there'd be a massive race to get a seat at the table and if you didn't you'd be in the lounge watching TV and eating. We all wanted to be at the table though. We'd all try and help prepare dinner because otherwise you were on dishes. That's when you'd need to go to the toilet and stay there for hours.
5. Did you ever crave your own space?
No. We lived in a four-bedroom house - girls in one room, boys in the other. Even now on netball trips I wouldn't mind sharing a bed. With my partner, I don't like to be cuddled at nights because he's got heavy arms but I like to touch skin, just feel someone else there. I love being in big groups, lots of noise and people.
6. What was it like moving to Auckland?
I got a scholarship to Massey High School and was playing for Waitakere under-17s. I lived with the president of the club and her husband in West Harbour. It was beautiful but I didn't care about that. The silence in the house made me crazy. I'd never had to make friends before. There were 3000 students at the school and I didn't know how to speak to people because I was not an average-sized human. I stood out a lot (at 1.85m). I just cried for a year really. Missed home. To be honest, I don't even know now how I got through it.
7. Has that period in your life shaped you?
I definitely think it's why I'm like this: a bit staunch and mean. Ha! I've had to make sure I'm okay with me. I feel like I have to be unafraid because people get on my arse all the time, whether on social media or whatever. I don't know what people want from me so I do what I think is right.
8. You recently lost 15kg - was that in reaction to those on social media who described you as fat?
I didn't do it because heaps of people called me fat. I did it because I wanted to play better for longer. I had to get fitter. [Silver Fern coach] Wai [Taumanu] always said to me "you need to be smaller". She never sugar-coated it. She said "I want you to move faster and I need you to move for longer".
I can feel it because I'm making better decisions in the latter parts of the game now. And I've changed my game so I'm making more attempts at goal.
9. You were critical of radio host Rachel Smalley's "heifers" and "lardos" comments this month. Are you sensitive about weight issues?
Not for me. I don't care what people say about me. But I think women are programmed to need to be accepted from the time we're little. We want to be seen as perfect and social media and media in general has let us know what that perfect image is. I'd rather be told [I'm fat] a million times than to have someone say it to a child. I think we're teaching our kids to be mean.
10. Is netball becoming too physically aggressive, do you think?
I'd be a hypocrite if I said it was because I don't mind the biff. But I feel like the game is turning into what you can get away with as opposed to how good you are. It's like children, if you can get away with it, you will. And that's a bit unfortunate. In games against Australia, you have those umpires [from overseas] who don't get the same kind of netball to practise on. And they come to these big matches that mean everything to us and they can't control it.
11. What's it like playing in a game against the Australian team when Norma Plummer is coaching?
I love Plummer. She says everything that we are thinking. She's fearless and just a great human. She scares the hell out of me but I'll say hello to her, and when she says hello back it's like, I don't know, I'm starstruck or something.
12. You've been with your partner Jim Tuivaiti for nine years - is your mother expecting any grandkids from you?
She asks me all the time. I think there's something like 20 nieces and nephews already and I'm like "Mum, you've got enough". Jim wants a baby as much as I do but I don't think I could do that and play enough netball. Jim thinks he's getting one after 2015 [Netball World Cup] but you don't want to get in to the Silver Ferns and then just get out again.
