Basketball: Jess in a code war

Tall Fern teenage prodigy Jessica McCormack is sticking with basketball for now but unconfirmed reports that she is set to trial for the New Zealand under-19 netball team may rekindle worries that the other ball-and-hoop code is still set on poaching the 1.95m (6ft 4in) 16-year-old.

McCormack, still in her sixth form year at Northcote College, is recognised as one of the rising stars of New Zealand women's basketball but - as she has played netball for much of her life - there have been suggestions that a tug-of-war could develop between the two codes.

She has already been named in the national secondary schools netball side to defend its trans-Tasman title next month. But selection in the under-19 team could be viewed as taking a another step towards netball's circle.

A silver medallist with the Tall Ferns at last month's Commonwealth Games, McCormack mainly plays goal keep in netball but can shoot. In basketball, she underlined her potential with 18 rebounds and 11 points against India recently.

However, Jessica's mother, Jane McCormack said: "Jess has played a lot of netball but she and we have made it clear that basketball is more important to her. Netball have accepted that and said they will take what they can get in terms of how much time she can play for them."

The McCormacks are keenly aware their daughter has some tough decisions to make - international playing schedules make it virtually impossible to play both - but add she doesn't have to make a decision yet.

Mrs McCormack said she knew Jessica was playing in some Auckland under-19 trials but hadn't heard she was playing in the national trials - although she was quick to add such news might not yet have been passed on by her daughter.

Whatever decision Jessica makes, it seems a bright future awaits. Her potential in basketball was obvious to onlookers in Melbourne and, while fewer have seen her in netball, her height and athletic ability give her good credentials in that code too.

Jessica has said that her favourite player was Australian star Lauren Jackson who plays in the Australian WNBA as well as in the US, Korea and even Russia. Her yearly earnings from basketball are said to top US$400,000.

Tall Ferns coach Mike McHugh coached Jackson in Australia earlier in her career and said: "At the same age, Jess and Lauren were interesting studies. I'd say there are some things Lauren definitely did better but there are things that Jess does better too. It just shows what potential she has."

"The thing is that Lauren was in the Australian system which managed her day-to-day development and, unfortunately, we don't have anything like that here. She can get it but only by going overseas and that is one of the options in front of her."

Jessica has colleges in the US interested in a scholarship - a springboard to the lucrative US league where Donna Loffhagen, the former Silver Fern, has recently signed for the Connecticut Sun. While most judges would say that a financial future seems more assured in basketball, with its more global appeal, there's no doubting the pull of netball from both a national and social perspective to a 16-year-old whose friends and schoolfriends are in the sport.

The Silver Ferns are also the world's best but McHugh questioned whether the sport can players the type of opportunities basketball can.

"But I'd say sport is the least of her priorities right now," he said. "She has family, friends and education all to consider first."