netball
With newfound confidence, Maia Wilson will tick off her first major tournament for the Silver Ferns at this month’s Commonwealth Games, and Merryn Anderson will share her personal goal to amplify her repertoire.
She has been a mainstay of New Zealand netball in recent years, but sometimes it’s easy to forget that Maia Wilson is only 24 years old.
And perhaps even harder to believe that when the dropping anchor jumps on a plane to Birmingham in two weeks for the Commonwealth Games, she’ll be on her way to the first pinnacle of her Silver Ferns career.
“I feel like I’ve been aiming for it for a while,” says the Northern Stars captain.
“I’ve been in this area for five or six years, but I’ve never actually been chosen for a top event; I was chosen over everything else.
“So to finally get confirmation that I would be on the plane was a huge sigh of relief — and just absolute elation — because it was something I couldn’t have ticked off.”
Wilson was 19 when she made her international debut in 2016, but was overlooked for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2019 World Cup, when Maria Folau and Amelaranne Ekenasio left their mark on the black dress.
She was a non-traveling reserve for the triumphant World Cup team, but this time she’s a key cog in the 12-man squad vying for Commonwealth Games gold.
With 28 test caps to her name, Wilson doesn’t approach the Games any differently than her other Ferns appearances, but she appreciates the importance of such a major event.
“Every time you get the chance to wear the black dress, you’re just over the moon. But there’s something really special about the Comm Games,” she says.
“You’re part of a bigger New Zealand team and to experience something bigger than just netball is quite amazing. So I would love to finally be on a bigger world stage than I was used to.”
Unlike previous Games where there was one athlete’s village, the New Zealand team will be spread over five bases in Birmingham – the netball players will stay with the Kiwi boxers, weightlifters and the badminton duo.
As a first-timer at the Games, Wilson is excited about the experience, but also knows the self-discipline needed to manage all the distractions that come from being in a larger athlete environment.
This season, she played in all 17 games of the Stars and led the team to the grand final – where they were defeated 56-37 by a dominant Central Pulse-squad.
Wilson says the Stars’ connections on offense were key to making it to the final, especially her link to Fern’s wing attack and captain, Gina Crampton.
“I was really happy with the way I finished the season with the Stars,” Wilson said. “I started out a little shaky, but then I started to find my groove.”
Wilson was one of the victims of the disease that engulfed players in trials, and was only able to attend the second half of the camp. With so many players affected, Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua has been on form for the past 18 months.
“I was grateful to be a little bit in the mix. I wasn’t the best, but I was really lucky that it was my ANZ season that won me over,” Wilson says.
Wilson was the third most prolific shooter in this year’s ANZ Premiership, after Pulse’s Aliyah Dunn and British import George Fisher. With 574 goals from 662 attempts, Wilson finished the season with an 87 percent accuracy rate and attributes her success to sticking to her own game plan.
“I think it was more like being authentically myself and having a little more confidence and confidence in what I was doing,” Wilson says. “And then just have the courage to say ‘Oh, I know I can do my job and I’m quite a good shooter,’ so it was more about boosting that confidence and finding a way.”
The Cadbury Netball Series kicks off next Wednesday, with the Silver Ferns taking on an NZ A side, the NZ men’s team and a mixed invited team. The other teams will be piled up with former Silver Ferns – including legends Leana de Bruin and reserve Donna Wilkins in the mixed team, who will be 45 and 44 years old respectively during the series.
The chance to play against a range of youngsters, experience and the physical combat of the men will be the perfect preparation for the challenges they will face in Birmingham, Wilson says.
“We’ve been talking all week about how we need the hardest build-up and we need people to push us as hard as they can because we’re not going to get anything less at Comm Games. We’ve also had NZA in the camp for the past few days, so we really got to bump into them. I think that’s been really helpful for us in learning where our potential gaps are.
“I think this is another extension of what Cadbury is going to do and the different variations of people in the other teams, the men and the mixed in particular, it will be a very different style of play.”
Wilson will team up with Grace Nweke, Bailey Mes and Te Paea Selby-Rickit in the firing circle for the Ferns – the latter duo being part of the last two top events.
With Nweke still recovering from her ankle injury, Wilson is likely to score a goal. But she is also working on adding goals to her repertoire and hopes to spend more time there next year.
“I know my bread and butter is target shooting, but the more I can play with target strikes in the ANZ season, the more I can incorporate into the Silver Ferns environment,” she says. Her biggest goal is to be part of the 2023 World Cup team to defend their title.
“We’ve been testing different combos over the past few days and it gives us a huge variety of people who are able to do both and bring different strengths into play.”
The Silver Ferns open their Commonwealth Games campaign against Northern Ireland on July 30 at 5:00 a.m. (NZT), also playing against Uganda, Malawi, Trinidad and Tobago and defending champions England in the game of pool.
“We go there to win, we don’t want to come back with less,” Wilson says.
“For myself as an individual, I just want to put my best foot forward and make sure I contribute to the collective as best I can, in whatever capacity.
“We have 12 people who can really be in any seven so whether you’re on the pitch or not you have to be prepared and ready to go through. I know I have to grab the opportunity with both hands where I am too.”
*The Cadbury Netball Series kicks off on Wednesday, July 13, with the Silver Ferns facing NZ A in their first game. The broadcast will be live on Sky Sport 1 from Wednesday to Friday from 6pm and the final will be broadcast on Sky Sport 2 on Saturday from 2pm.