Squad status is a 'huge shock' for Moulds

While her addition to the Netball New Zealand's national accelerant group surprised the modest Jessica Moulds, her inclusion seemed to be the natural next step for the high achieving Northland athlete.
"It was a huge shock for me, I really did not expect it," the 21-year-old goal keep/goal defence said.
Moulds was selected for the accelerant group - which is essentially the Silver Ferns development squad - on the back of stellar year, where she signed with her first ANZ Championship team, the Northern Mystics.
Strong performances for the NZ Under-21s, and for Otago at the 2010 Perry Foundation National Netball Championships mid year saw her included in the NZ FastNet Ferns team, which won gold at last month's 2010 world netball series in Liverpool, England.
"The world Fastnet series was an amazing, very cool experience. It was awesome to see a bit of England - even though it was freezing - and there was so much atmosphere there," she said.
There was a very high standard of netball played at the worlds which Moulds said was good preparation for her ahead of her debut ANZ Championships season.
"I got a few quarters here and there at the worlds - it was good just to get on the court. A lot of girls in the team had more experience than me, I was one of the babies of the team ... but it was good to play at that level as it is such a huge jump to play in the ANZ Champs."
It has been a massive past week for Moulds, who has just shifted from Dunedin where she was studying nutrition, to her new flat in Glenfield, on Auckland's North Shore.
Not only did she start pre-season training with the Mystics, but she also found out she has been accepted into a post-graduate course of dietetics.
"It has been a very tough week - I have heaps of work to do to get up to scratch to play at ANZ Champs level. I need to work on my strength and conditioning mainly, and get my skill base to where it should be."
The Mystics squad have strength and conditioning sessions every morning at the Millennium Institute of Sport, as well as two team training sessions a week at The Trusts Stadium in Waitakere, as they prepare for their first ANZ Championship game in February.
Her acceptance into dietetics was also a shock, considering the full-on year she had with netball commitments. "I didn't expect to get the marks I needed (a B+ average to get in). I have to sort it out and see if I can study part time as there is no way I could study fulltime and play netball next year."
Although the Mystics are her priority next year, she will do her best to squeeze her studies in as well, she said.