Casey Williams decides to tie the knot

Casey Williams with her fiance Terry Kopua. Photo / Supplied

Silver Ferns captain Casey Williams had just finished a gym workout in Fiji and was relaxing by the pool when her boyfriend handed over a small box and said, "here you go".

Inside was an engagement ring from lawyer Terry Kopua, whom she had been dating for 15 months.

It's a summer of love in the sports world: Dan Carter married Honor Dillon, Ali Williams married Casey Green and, this week, The Crowd Goes Wild host Andrew Mulligan revealed he had popped the question to girlfriend Emma Phillips during a snowboarding holiday over New Year.

For Williams, it is her second proposal of marriage - and that's not counting the placards held up at games by her legion of male fans. Williams was engaged to builder Wessel Eshuis for a year before splitting in June 2010.

She told the Herald on Sunday at the time she had been deeply affected and was struggling to bounce back.

But she found her feet in the dating game after meeting Kopua in a Hamilton nightclub just a few months later.

The couple have already bought a house in Hamilton and Kopua supported Williams during major surgery after she injured her ankle at last year's World Netball Championships.

The couple flew to Fiji for a week after Christmas and announced their engagement on Facebook when returning home last week.

"Fiji was beautiful, sunshine-locked and a huge surprise, we got engaged. yay," Williams wrote.

Congratulations flooded in this week from fellow Silver Ferns stars including Irene van Dyk, Cathrine Latu and former captain Adine Wilson.

Wilson, married to former All Black Jeff Wilson, said: "Congrats, wedding planning is so much fun."

Williams' mother, Joanne, said they were excited to have Kopua in the family and already considered him their son-in-law.

"He is a very good man ... she is absolutely over the moon. He's a nice guy and she really looks well and feels well and is happy in herself," Joanne said.

She said the casual proposal was expected.

"I know they had been to the gym and I think they were just relaxing by the pool-side and he just popped up with the little box ... neither of them are really romantic."

Williams planned to get married in February or March next year and would most likely avoid the typical white wedding, Joanne said.

"I don't think it will be a white wedding; she will probably wear some other colour than white; that's just her."

Kopua's mother said she had been "sworn to secrecy" when approached by the Herald on Sunday, and Williams did not want to comment.

Meanwhile, Andrew Mulligan and Emma Phillips have been talking about their engagement on Twitter since Friday.

"Epic holiday. No work. Snowboarding. Shopping. Drinking. Oh yeah ... And got ENGAGED!!!," Phillips tweeted.