Decision still to be made on which country to choose, Ben Strang reports.
Who will she choose? New Zealand, or Australia?
It’s a question we hope will be answered with New Zealand in the near future, as St Paul’s Collegiate pupil Pare Gilmartin-Kara rises through the netball ranks.
The 18-year-old Hamilton schoolgirl returned from Australia last week, where she captained Aotearoa Maori to third place in the International Schoolgirls Netball Challenge in Adelaide.
Playing as goal defence, Gilmartin-Kara led her team to victory over every team bar New Zealand and Australia at the tournament.
It was her second year competing in the tournament, after Aotearoa Maori finished second last year, beating Australia in the semifinals.
"It was pretty cool to beat a team like Australia when we were the Aotearoa Maori side," she said.
"They were such a good team, and Australia has so much depth. But I don't know if we can do it again."
Australia proved to be too good this time around, winning in pool play 31-12, and then in the competition semifinal 33-22.
It was still a strong effort from Aotearoa Maori, winning the third-fourth playoff 44-14 over Pacific Rim.
Many of the players had trialled for the New Zealand Secondary Schools team but missed out, as had Gilmartin-Kara, and then turned to the Maori team.
She said the team gave her an opportunity to further develop her netball skills, something she’s been doing plenty of lately.
"I basically play every day," she said.
"I have trainings for four teams. There are games for four teams. Sometimes I have to go from a training for one team to a game for another team, which can be pretty tough.
"I have early morning starts some mornings for training. I'm really enjoying it though, it’s what I want to do."
To list those teams, it starts with St Paul’s Collegiate, then there’s Hamilton City Under-19s, Tainui Waka Under-19s, and Aotearoa Maori.
That makes for a big workload, but she knows she needs to do it to make it to the top.
It’s a tough time for Gilmartin-Kara’s development as she moves into the senior grades, having to make the shift from a goal defence or goal keep to a wing defence.
"I'm finding I'm not tall enough to play in the circle.
"I definitely am looking at making the change now. I'm doing it for club, but it’s been pretty tough.
"You have to do a lot more moving and passing and setting up attacks which I'm not used to, but I have to learn if I want to keep going higher."
That brings up the choice of country Gilmartin-Kara could represent.
While she lives here and was born in New Zealand, her father is Australian, meaning she could choose between New Zealand and Australia.
First she needs to get to the level to make a choice, and her goal is to make the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic in the next five years.
If that happens, that pledge of allegiance is up in the air.
"My mum would be so angry at me if I chose Australia," she said, "but at the same time, it kind of interests me. I wouldn't mind it."
