My life in sport: Jessica McCormack

Jessica McCormack. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Standing at 1.94m tall, 19-year-old Jessica McCormack was always going to be regarded as hot property in both netball and basketball.

Now, after four years focusing on basketball, the young Tall Ferns star has turned her attention to netball, with her ultimate dream of becoming a Silver Fern.

McCormack, who has been on Netball New Zealand's radar for some time, took a small step towards that goal this week when she was named among 18 triallists to compete for a place in the New Zealand Under-21 netball side to defend their World Youth crown in August.

With McCormack also a member of Netball New Zealand's accelerant group and attracting plenty of interest from ANZ Championship franchises, it seems only a matter of time before the youngster follows in the footsteps of Belinda Colling and Donna Wilkins and becomes a dual international.

McCormack made her basketball debut for the Tall Ferns as a 15-year-old and helped the team earn a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. She also competed at the Beijing Olympics last year.

She was on scholarship at the University of Washington playing college basketball before transferring to the University of Connecticut last season where she has struggled with an achilles tendon injury.

The Tall Ferns centre opted to head home for surgery and has decided to stay to focus on communications study at the Auckland University of Technology and on netball.

You've decided to make the switch to netball, what are your goals for the next few years?

Obviously making the Silver Ferns is my dream - that would be the pinnacle. I want to get there eventually, so that will be what I'll be working towards for the next few years.

Was it always your intention to make the switch at some stage?

No, not really. I'd just reached the point in my basketball career where I wasn't really enjoying it any more. Right now at this point in my life I felt like I needed a change and if I'm going to put that much time and effort in to a sport I want to enjoy it.

What inspired you to choose netball?

I've always kind of played netball when I was younger and before basketball became my focus. I played at New Zealand Secondary Schools level and it was kind of in the back of my mind that if things didn't work out with basketball I could go back down that track.

When you were 13 were there any other sports you fancied yourself as a future star in?

I think when I was younger like most Kiwi kids I played every sport under the sun. I was really in to rowing, cricket, swimming, I also played softball for a little while. You name it I probably played it. But basketball and netball were the two that stuck really, because of my height obviously, and because I seemed to enjoy the most success with basketball first, I went down that track.

What are you up to in your life outside of sport at the moment?

Hopefully I'll be starting uni in Auckland next semester. I'm looking at studying a Bachelor of Communications and majoring in Journalism. But at the moment I'm just working part time around training, just killing time until Uni starts next semester and making a bit of moolah.

What is the best thing about being a sportsperson?

Probably being part of a team environment and the friends you meet through sport. It's fantastic when you have a great team culture when you can rely on any of your teammates and there is complete trust amongst one another. You get a lot of long lasting friendships out of it.

And the worst thing?

I would say the early morning training sessions - they're not a lot of fun.

What is the proudest achievement of your sporting career?

Definitely making the Olympics last year, it was a pretty amazing experience.

And the worst moment?

Probably doing my Achilles. This past year, with all the trouble I've had with it has probably been the worst time for me as a sportsperson, so it's good to finally feel like I'm back on track.

What happened to your Achilles?

I didn't snap it, it's been a progressive type injury that had developed this past year over in the States. It got to a point where I was having horrible pain all the time, so I had to have surgery to clean it out - I think they call it debriding.

You've played college basketball over in the United States, how does the sporting culture over there differ from New Zealand?

In the States, it's very much like you're in a bubble. You're at the University to be part of this team, so everything you do revolves around basketball and it becomes very insular. Whereas back here you can have other things going on in your life and have a lot better balance.

Who in the world do you most admire as well?

I have a huge amount of admiration for a number of top athletes - guys like Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps who have reached that point of pretty much perfection in their sport is fantastic and something every sportsperson can admire.

Who was your childhood hero?

When I was growing up and playing a lot of netball I admired Irene van Dyk. Obviously I was always tall and I was a shooter when I was little, so I always looked up to Irene and thought she was absolutely amazing.

What's the one career ambition you'd like to realise before you retire?

To make the Silver Ferns and win a World Championship with them, that would be pretty amazing and definitely a big goal of mine netball-wise.

What do you do to get away from sport?

I'm really interested in music, so I spend a lot of time listening to music, and also reading - I've always got my head buried in a book.

THE CV

2005
* Named in the New Zealand Secondary Schools netball team;
* First selected in the Tall Ferns at just 15 years of age

2006
* Won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games with the Tall Ferns

2007
* Took up a basketball scholarship in the United States with the University of Washington

2008
* Member of the Tall Ferns at Beijing Olympics

2009
* Named in Netball New Zealand's Accelerant Group