Netball: World Cup big step up for newbie

Tietie Aiolupotea at Choices Gym in Hastings has just returned from the World Cup tournament in Sydney. Photo / Duncan Brown

Hawke's Bay's Samoan netball superstar Tietie Aiolupotea is the first Bay player to have contested a World Cup in eight years.

As the "baby of the team" Aiolupotea found the huge step up to World Cup netball this month a bit "nerve racking."

"Once I warmed into it and played a couple of quarters I relaxed into it a bit."

The Marcia Hardcastle-coached Samoan team is made up entirely of Aussie and New Zealand-based players.

Aiolupotea comes from Savaii Island in Samoa and arrived in the Bay with her family as a 3-year-old. She took up netball as a 7-year-old and has played for MAC Blue at premier club level in the Bay for the past five years.

Aiolupotea said she was slightly intimidated by the calibre of the players. Geva Mentor from England was a stand-out for her and a player she had admired for years.

"She is such a skilled defender."

Samoa were in the pool of death where they "were smashed" but Aiolupotea said she learnt a lot from the games.

The 19-year-old MAC Blue player played as a defender for Samoa at the Sydney-hosted tournament where her side won their final two outings to finish 10th out of 16 teams.

The side's goal heading into the tournament was to finish in the top 10, but in a poor start at the event the Samoans went down to Scotland, Jamaica and England in pool play.

However, they recovered in the qualification rounds to beat Singapore 46-39 and scrape past Namibia 55-53.

While England and Jamaica were the toughest assignments of the tournament it was against Pacific rivals Fiji that the Samoans had desperately wanted a win.

"We had always lost to them in the past five years so we really wanted that game. It was an amazing game, goal for goal until we took it out 54-51."

The highlight of the cup for Aiolupotea was being part of the opening ceremony and rubbing shoulders with the world's best netballers.

"As a newbie to be eating breakfast with players I have grown up watching and admiring was just incredible.

"It was just a massive experience. I'm so glad I went."

The last Bay players to feature at a World Cup were the Cook Islands pair of former Taradale Fury midcourter Holly Solomona and former Physique 2000 goal attack Crystal Kavana, who played at the 2007 event in Auckland.

Aiolupotea will now be a key member of the Charissa Barham-coached Hawke's Bay senior team at the Wellington-hosted nationals in October before she focuses on studying sport and recreation.