It's no secret ... one can make a female Hawke's Bay representative sports team relatively easy with a bit of natural ability regardless of the code.
"I probably could have gone further in some of my other codes but I didn't do the extra work I should have because I was too lazy. I just relied on my natural ability a lot of the time because there aren't the numbers battling for berths as there are in other provinces so there isn't the same level of competition," Jaimee Robin (nee Edwards) recalled last night.
Tomorrow Robin, 29, will represent the Bay in a fifth code when she laces up to play for the Hawke's Bay women's rugby league team against Manawatu's Linton at Kirkpatrick Park, Hastings from 1pm. Hawke's Bay player-coach Chanel Huddleston said Robin, who has also represented the Bay in hockey, sevens, rugby and touch, is in the best physical conditions she has seen her in and has predicted a bright future for her in the 13-man code.
"Chanel is right. I'm the fittest I've been since I played for North Harbour in the National Hockey League four years ago. I got married in February [to Hawke's Bay artist Tamihana Robin] and before the wedding I decided to be more disciplined with my diet and lost 14kgs," Robin explained.
"I got into a fitness programme which my cousin Jackson Waerea at Patu Gym was in charge of and Faryn put me on a running programme," she said referring to her Hawke's Bay Sevens trainer Faryn Ngawaka a former Hawke's Bay Unicorns league player who is a successful triathlete these days.