This year is going to be memorable for all Kiwis for all sorts of reasons - but for Black Fern Charmaine McMenamin 2020 will be the year she kicked off her dream to become an
Black Ferns rugby player Charmaine McMenamin chasing dream of becoming an electrician
![Cherie Howie](https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/nzme/4a6b54d4-9289-431b-9e57-2e89d9a91aed.png)
McMenamin, who has 25 caps, is determined to pursue both careers - employer-willing - at the same time.
"I'm going to juggle both… I hope I have an employer that would let me do both."
Her electrical engineering certificate, which she received last month after graduating from private tertiary provider NZMA, means she can now apply for an apprenticeship that will take about two years, rather than three-and-a-half.
The 30-year-old loose forward's already looking for potential employers, and hopes they see the value in taking on someone who's already shown dedication and drive on the sports field, as has been the case for many teammates.
"We always put 100 per cent into everything. Because that's the type of people we are."
![Charmaine McMenamin debuted for the Black Ferns against England in 2013. Photo / Supplied](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/EYH454TQPIJ7VFJCIERDOPJENA.jpg?auth=d46cc7133feed630a61ef9a23bd18f49a23b0ba16eb828073399ca0221d1313e&width=16&height=24&quality=70&smart=true)
McMenamin, who worked as a warehousing and logistics manager before starting her electrical engineering course, is among 30 female rugby players under contract since New Zealand Rugby announced a Black Ferns contracted squad in 2018.
It was great young women now had a paid pathway to a rugby career, but she was also encouraged by the fact women in the Black Ferns - unlike their male counterparts - had always had jobs off the field too.
"That's the real awesome thing about this team… the women in the Black Ferns, they had established careers and [playing rugby] was just for fun."
Being an electrician would be a life-long career, and allow her - most importantly - to help those she held most dear.
"That was the biggest thing [behind my decision to re-train]. I wanted to give back to the people in my community and my family."
That community is a papakāinga [a wider family community living on ancestral land] in Rangitukia, 150km north of Gisborne.
At Christmas she realised her family needed another electrician, said McMenamin, who is Ngāti Porou.
"Seeing all my uncles, they've all got trades, they whacked up a little bach in a day. But we've only got one electrician in the family.
"I like physical work and I like a challenge and I thought, 'Yeah, why not?'"