Anna Stanley is a Magic mum

By INGRID TIRIANA

New baby, new town, new team.
Anna Stanley has had some major transitions to make in the past year - but it's all good.
The former Silver Ferns captain and husband Jeremy Stanley, a training orthopaedic surgeon, are loving life in the Bay of Plenty and being parents to daughter Jaya, born last November.
Juggling netball with the rest of her life is nothing new to Stanley and an accommodating team environment and supportive family and friends has made joining Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic easier than anticipated.
This weekend, when the team played Diamonds at Mystery Creek, was Stanley's first overnight stay away from Jaya, now starting to bottle feed. Jaya's been either courtside or nearby with her father or with Stanley's mum or sister.
When Magic played Canterbury Flames in Rotorua Jaya stayed with her dad at a motel.
"The last thing I wanted was to hear her crying on the sideline in the middle of the game," Stanley says. "It's not fair on me or the other players if I'm thinking about what she's doing."
Baby Jaya has become one of the Magic family which has made it easier for Stanley to be maintain her dual roles of motherhood and player.
Life at Mt Maunganui is also sweet, far enough from Auckland to get away from big city hustle and bustle but close enough to still regularly visit family and friends. It's also the sort of beach lifestyle Stanley enjoyed when growing up in Christchurch.
Stanley, a trained phys-ed teacher, has now played for three National Bank Cup franchises. She was with Rebels from 1998, when they won the title, until 2000 and played for Diamonds from 2001 until 2006 when she became pregnant.
"I've always prided myself on being quite a loyal player. I didn't want to be one who moved around the franchises and only ever played for a franchise in an area where I've lived.
"Being around for so long and knowing so many players makes it easier to slot into a new team and the fact Magic are such a well-oiled machine has made it easy. They have the foundation and the structure which means you can come in and concentrate on your job."
While Stanley loves being a mum, the game she loves - and Magic - beckoned and the decision to return to the court was more a case of when, rather than if.
The toughest transition for Stanley has been regaining the level of fitness that will have her back to the form she demands of herself. It's starting to come, but in the meantime her body has "taken a bit of a battering".
She took a complete rest from training when pregnant and concedes that's made it harder to get back in shape for top level netball. "I've got a few niggles in my back which have been ongoing because I've not had the chance to get it right with games every weekend.
"I'm nowhere near where I used to be yet with my fitness or game and I'm just hoping that every week I can kind of redeem myself from the previous week in terms of error rate and my contribution on court. It's frustrating when the body won't let you do what you want."
On-court combinations are also a work in progress.
"We've not had the same combination on every game so it's constantly changing and we're having to adapt and we're probably taking a bit long to settle in to those.
"I've played with Irene [van Dyk] for many years and love feeding her but still need to work on the accuracy. The rest of the links are developing and getting stronger."
Stanley has had to make a few adjustments to her game to fit in with Magic's style of play, technical aspects like tweaking her approach to the circle and the angles she runs. It's been hard at times.
"When you're 31 and have played for 10 years a certain way it's hard to change but it also gives you something to focus on. I'm not just going through the motions, I'm having to really think about what my role is with this team and that's been quite refreshing."
Stanley said the team's round four loss to Sting was a shocker but sometimes such games can be a good thing - "a good kick up the pants" serving as a reminder of what's required.
Despite the setback, she says confidence in the Magic camp remains high.
"We know we can get to the finals."
Just how long Magic can expect to retain the services of one of the world's best midcourters is anybody's guess.
Stanley's husband, currently working at Tauranga Hospital, may have to move on within the year as he strives to become a surgeon and he's applying for the orthopaedic training scheme next month. That means he'll have to go wherever they send him. Rotorua would be ideal - for Magic at least - but a surgery career isn't the only factor influencing the Stanleys' future.
The couple plan to have more children. At the moment they're trying to settle on how many.
"Jeremy wants about seven but I've blatantly refused."
While the negotiations continue on that front, Magic will undoubtedly do all it can to hold on to its latest big name.