The talent of Kimiora Poi, 20, of Hawke's Bay, was never in doubt but now the Silver Moon Tactix centre is likened with ex-Silver Fern Temepara George. Photo/Ken Baker Photography
The talent of Kimiora Poi, 20, of Hawke's Bay, was never in doubt but now the Silver Moon Tactix centre is likened with ex-Silver Fern Temepara George. Photo/Ken Baker Photography
Kimiora Poi can count on one hand the number of minutes she played on the elite court of the country's netball competition in Wellington last year.
So Poi, a tertiary student from Hawke's Bay, cut a track from Te Wananga o Raukawa Central Pulse to Silvermoon Tactix in Christchurch and took with her her academic ambitions from Victoria University to Canterbury University.
Needless to say the 20-year-old centre hasn't looked back since as her meteoric rise in the ANZ Premiership with her new franchise team.
"I got on for about three minutes at the end of one [Pulse] game but, other than that, I was just training," says the third-year criminology and Maori studies degree student who has been likened to ex-Silver Ferns pocket rocket Temepara George.
Poi has been counting her blessings under the tutelage of Tactix coach Marianne Delaney-Hoshek with more court time for a lion's share of the premiership.
The Jane Watson-led Tactix finished third in the premiership, creating history in the process with their maiden playoffs in the franchise's tenure and, consequently, qualifying for the Super Club for the first time.
The Tactix open their Super Club campaign against Singapore's leading club side, Sneakers, tomorrow before trying to tame the Gauteng Jaguars from South Africa and the 2018 ANZ premiership champions, Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel, in the six-day tournament.
"That's come as a bit of a surprise but it's going to be pretty cool and fun getting some experience on that side of things," Poi says of the abbreviated form of the game that has lured teams from South Africa, Singapore, Scotland, Australia and Fiji/Samoa.
She sees benefits in honing her reflex skills for a more complete template in her first outing in an official Fast5 but she had experienced the adrenalin rush in the Tactix pre-season event this year.
"I think we had put out something that was more different and a bit of fun."
Poi's talent has never been in doubt since she took on board the advice from mother Roanne and former Napier Girls' High School coach Charissa Barham as a teenager to remodel her game as a midcourter from a shooter due to her height.
The former NGHS pupil, who is a member of the New Zealand Under-20 team that won the age-group World Championship in Botswana last year, was named in the Fast5 Ferns to compete at the Fast5 Netball World Series in Australia in late October.
Ironically, six Pulse players are in the 10-strong team confirmed for the two-day event in Melbourne which the Kiwis have won six times since its inception in 2009.
Tactix centre Kimiora Poi will play in the Super Club competition from tomorrow. Photo/Ken Baker Photography
Poi, a former Outkast Optimise Physio player in the Hawke's Bay Netball premier competition in her last appearance in 2016, also was named in the New Zealand A team and, with fellow Bay netballer and Tactix shooter Ellie Bird, in the 2018-19 Silver Ferns development squad last week.
The shift has instilled a sense of self-belief and more confidence in Poi, enabling her to focus on the task and not sweat on the small stuff.
"The confidence in me from the coaches and the players has made me a better person and player."
Is it an honour to be juxtaposed with former New Zealand skipper George?
"Oh yes. I think she's one of the greatest centres to have ever come [out of New Zealand]," says Poi.
Poi also has come a long way from an impressionable teenager who now makes bold decisions on her future.
"You have to go your own way to make decisions on what's best for you," she says although appreciative of those who are close to her on offering constructive advice.
In two years, like every aspiring netballer, she harbours ambitions to become a Silver Fern as the country's flagship team undergo a renaissance of sorts with their structure and leadership.
Spreading her wings across the Cook Strait to the Garden City has been a win-win situation for her and the franchise.
Surprisingly Poi has found Christchurch to be not as cold in winter as she had anticipated.
It has helped immensely that she has been able to stay with friends of her mother in the suburb of Ohoka in a city where she knew nobody.
"My studies kind of started as the season was winding down so I didn't have to do much work but I'm coping well."
The intensity of training with the Tactix is similar to the Pulse but she suspects there's a whole different feel to the environment at the new franchise.
Poi didn't know Bird, a former Proactive Hasting High School Old Girls' Huias player, much either but has built a rapport with the Central Hawke's Bay goal shoot in an environment that fosters camaraderie.
Tactix goal shoot Ellie Bird, of Central Hawke's Bay, also is in the Silver Ferns development squad. Photo/Photosport
