Netball: Texas ranger finally makes her cup debut

Carron Jerram (pictured here with son Braden) makes her Diamonds debut 10 years after playing for the Silver Ferns. Picture / Greg Bowker

A Texas flag hangs on a post and a giant map of the state greets you as you walk in the door.

A four-year stint in Texas for former Silver Fern Carron Jerram (formerly Topping) and her husband produced two children, hence the significance of the blue, red and white flag with its lone star.

But when the National Bank Cup rolls into action this weekend it will be the Diamonds flag Jerram will represent.

Ten years after she played for the Silver Ferns in the world championships in Birmingham, Jerram is making her National Bank Cup debut.

So why the Diamonds? To cut a long story short: for the past four years Jerram has played for the College Rifles Crocks, "basically a group of older players who turn up on a Saturday and play in the premier club competition".

Still extremely active - she ran the Taranaki marathon in an impressive 3h 48m last year - she and a friend decided to try out for the Diamonds just to see if they could still match it with the game's best.

Jerram still possesses her world-class shooting form and was one of eight new players recruited by former Australian international Sue Hawkins.

"I was worried how an old girl would fit in," says 37-year-old Jerram, pointing out the 20-year age gap between her and the side's youngest member, Grace Rasmussen.

"But they are a really good group of people ... and it is really refreshing working with Sue [Hawkins] because it is all new. She has great ideas. She is a visionary and she'll go outside the square."

A few days out from the start of the gruelling competition she is feeling "nervous and excited".

"The team is well-rounded, well-prepared and are just going about what we do quietly. I think there is a nice, quiet and steady feel about this team."

Jerram moved to New Zealand from the Isle of Man in 1981 after the death of her parents.

With her brother and two sisters Jerram was sent to Waitara to live with her aunt Ivy and uncle Gary.

"They got an instant family of four," Jerram said.

"I remember the first day we arrived. It probably would have been 25C, glorious sunshine. We arrived at New Plymouth airport and drove out to Waitara and went for a walk with my cousins down town," she laughs.

"That first summer we visited a lot of the beaches and couldn't believe the black sand. It certainly was a bit of a cultural change."

As it turned out Aunt Ivy was a bit of an icon in Taranaki netball circles, having almost single-handedly run the game in Waitara for as long as anyone could remember.

"She is passionate about netball," Jerram said. "Very passionate."

"I played netball in school in England but it wasn't huge. I probably did more athletics and cross country."

In 1994 Jerram married former Manawatu and Waikato rugby flanker Richard. "I picked him up on a rugby trip," she laughs.

They actually met through a friend when Richard was playing for Waikato and she was at Massey University studying accounting.

After the 1995 world netball championships, the Jerrams moved to Texas where Richard studied specialist training in veterinary surgery.

They lived in College Station, a university town about the size of Hamilton.

"We were rural Texas. Rural Texas is just like rural New Zealand."

The couple returned in 1999 and initially settled in the Waikato but moved to Auckland for work.

"I love it here," Jerram says looking out the window of her Takanini home.

"At the moment we are happy where we are."

Carron Jerram

Born: Isle of Man
Lives: Auckland
Status: Married to Richard with children Marcia (8), Cameron (7), Tyler (5) and Braden (3).
Age: 37
Positions: GS, GA
Height: 1.81m
Career highlights: 1991-1995: Silver Ferns 24 caps.