Rocco Taylor is right at home among Tall Ferns (from left) Kalani Purcell, mum Natalie Taylor, Micaela Cocks and Jillian Harmon.
Rocco Taylor is right at home among Tall Ferns (from left) Kalani Purcell, mum Natalie Taylor, Micaela Cocks and Jillian Harmon.
For Natalie Taylor, international basketball has always been a family affair, but that has taken on a new twist during the Tall Ferns' current Asian campaign.
As the New Zealand women attempt to qualify for the FIBA Women's World Cup for the first time through this week's Asia Cup in Bangalore, Taylor will be juggling her on-court duties with new responsibilities as a first-time mother.
Ten-month-old Rocco Taylor has become an unexpected tourist, but will no doubt emerge from the experience with a whole rosterful of doting aunties that he never counted on.
"We really wanted to name him before we left hospital, so we just googled cool names and out of all of them, I liked Rocco the best," giggles his mum. "We found out Rocco was an Italian saint and there are times when Rocco is not at all like a saint, but hopefully he'll grow into it."
His presence in the Tall Ferns camp - along with dad and former Samoan rugby international Ezra Taylor - speaks volumes for the determination of former captain Taylor, 34, to play again at this level, and the flexibility of her team-mates and management to allow what could easily become a distraction to everyone involved.
She missed last year's Olympic qualifying campaign through pregnancy and was also undecided about her availability this time round.
"I wasn't planning to be available at all," says Taylor. "But I spoke to [Tall Ferns coach Kenney Kereama] about it and we decided to come into camp only, to see how that went.
"I didn't really know how I would perform at that level, but it went better than any of us thought it would. Even then I wasn't sure I could come on tour with a 10 month old.
"We had to consider a lot of things and I spoke to some of the senior players about it, because it impacts everyone. They've been really awesome and really supportive, and they love playing with him when he's around."
Ezra and Rocco have their own room on tour - Natalie shares with fellow veteran Antonia Farnworth, but can still sneak away for quality mother-son time when the opportunity arises.
"I've always been really big on not having too many disruptions and distractions in a team environment.
"We don't really have him around the team at trainings or games, but he'll come with me to meals or sometimes to the physio room, and I think the girls enjoy it. It does create a little different environment, but a good one.
"I'm really lucky to have a good group of people around us that are happy for him to be here and happy for me to be here. The relationship we have as a group and the family environment we try to create makes it pretty easy."
Tall Ferns forward Natalie Taylor in action against Australia. Photo/Photosport
Kereama has absolutely no qualms about having Rocco on board.
"That's where we are now with our sport," he observes. "We have a lot of women who will become mothers and we want to support them in that.
"If they're good enough to play basketball and come into camp, we want them here. It's new ground that we're breaking, but a lot of sports have already embraced that concept of whanau in their teams."
When Taylor made her Tall Ferns debut in 2007, older sister Charmian Purcell (now Mellars) was already part of the programme. Now younger sister Kalani Purcell is a team-mate, while a fourth sibling, Hayley, has previously been on the fringes of selection.
That deep family connection is very special to Taylor and undoubtedly helped transition Rocco into the group.
"I'm lucky that I've been in the middle and been able to play with both sisters," she says. "Charms would have loved to play with Kalani, if she could have.
"It was always cool to play with my older sister and I feel that Charmian playing with me probably meant a lot to her, because I know playing with Kalani, being my baby sister, is fairly meaningful to me.
"When I play now, I just really want Kalani to be successful ... it's just that older sister care and love. If she doesn't have a good game, then I'm gutted as well."
Taylor has enjoyed an illustrious career at all levels, taking Southeast Missouri State University to their first NCAA tournament, playing professionally in Ireland and Australia, and attending the 2008 Beijing Olympics with the Tall Ferns.
But with New Zealand contesting an Asian qualifying pathway for the first time, she senses a chance to tick one more goal off her bucket list.
"I think this is a pretty big opportunity, now we're in the Asia Cup and not having to play against Australia to get in, so there will be some real satisfaction if we can qualify for the world champs," says Taylor.
