Grace Brooker has carved her way in to the Black Ferns squad at the ripe age of 21, and has used a little Kiwi ‘number eight wire’ in the process.
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 electrician, as well as a professional rugby player.
As Kiwis hunkered down for the nationwidelevel 4 lockdown earlier this year, McMenamin was at home studying towards her certificate in electrical engineering (level 3) as part of a plan to help wider family, and establish a career for life after professional rugby.
She doesn't know when she'll hang up her boots - the Black Ferns take on a Barbarians side at Waitakere Stadium this Saturday, and again at Nelson's Trafalgar Park the following Saturday - but Covid-19 border controls scuppered all internationals this year.
Next year though, with the Women's Rugby World Cup planned in New Zealand from September, life could be pretty busy.
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
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.
