Netball: Fit Latu aims for longevity

Cathrine Latu has lost 15kg since the end of last season. Photo / Jason Dorday

On the eve of a new season, you are about to see a new Cathrine Latu.

The Mystics attacker, who has been the most accurate shooter in the game for two of the past three seasons, says she is fitter and faster than ever after a six month focus on conditioning that has paid serious dividends.

Changes to her diet and a new fitness regime have seen Latu shed more than 15kg since the end of last season.

"It is all about longevity - about me working really hard to remain in the game," Latu told the Herald on Sunday. "[Before], I was fitter than I looked, faster than I looked but everything on the outside just looked different. I was always good enough but I just wanted to protect how long I am going to stay in this game. It wasn't about what everyone else thinks of me."

Latu has already noticed a difference. Her testing scores have been tracking upwards with the Ferns and Mystics and she is coming off a sustained series of good performances, first in the Constellation Cup, then on New Zealand's tour of England in January.

"I do feel a lot better," says Latu. "A lot fitter, smaller and more comfortable with how I am playing because I can make my own decisions, not based on how tired I feel. I play a very expansive, creative type of game and I realised that the more tired I got, the more bad decisions I started to make. I realised I needed to get my fitness up to last 60 minutes at 100 per cent and not taper down."

Since she came into top level netball, the strongly built Latu has often been the subject of comments about her size, which seemed to increase with the regular television exposure of the ANZ Championship.

"It's never been a bad issue or a good issue but it was there." reflects Latu. "People started to look past how I was playing and just [focused on] what I looked like - standing next to these other athletes who were really tall and skinny and I was different."

Latu had confidence in her own ability and needed to. Sometimes it felt like she had something extra to prove every time she took the court, despite long being recognised as one of the best shooters in the world.

"It got really dumb for a while because I couldn't get past it and no one would let me forget about it," says Latu. "I figured out that the less that I cared about it or what everyone thought, the better it was for me. I have dealt with the fact that I am not going to be a tiny human and I think that a few more people in New Zealand may have dealt with that themselves, which is lovely. This is me ..."

Latu is confident she and the Mystics can improve on a disappointing 2013.

Latu has performed week in, week out, for the past six years. Her shooting percentage increased from a respectable 86.8 per cent in 2008 to an astonishing 97.5 per cent in 2012.

Latu didn't get her chance with the Ferns until the age of 24 and she has also had the dominating presence of Irene van Dyk to deal with. Before last year's Constellation Cup series, she had played only two full matches for the Ferns. Bailey Mes is another rival, at both franchise and national level.

"I have competition," says Latu. "While I like competition, I also like winning. Bailey [Mes] is coming up and - she won't mind me saying this - we don't want each other to play. Me and Irene? It's healthy competition but it is still competition. That's what keeps you going, knowing that someone else is going to take your bib."

2014 could be a seminal year for Latu, now seen as a genuine challenger to van Dyk.

"It could be my year but while I feel like I am getting better, so is everyone else," says Latu. "It's hard work but I have waited so long and to have the Commonwealth Games so close makes me nervous. No one is really secure and that is a good thing."

"She has developed a unique style and when her foot speed is fast and her understanding with the feeders becomes intuitive, she is very hard to defend," says Mystics coach Debbie Fuller. "There is much more to her game than just holding for the shot. She has added a lot more variety and there is a greater awareness of what is required to maintain intensity at this level."

Before Glasgow, Latu, who has recently started studying for a Bachelor of Social Practice degree, needs to anchor a Mystics revival after their abysmal 2013.

Latu wanted to "hide somewhere" after that campaign but keeping busy with the national team has been a blessing in disguise. Her understanding with Laura Langman - after so many years of an almost telepathic link with Temepara George - is developing steadily and she is bullish about the team's chances.

"All of the New Zealand teams have stepped up - but mainly us, which is nice," laughs Latu. "It will be a real battle but we want to get back into that top four. We will be very hard to stop when everyone is fit and back on deck ... I made the call [recently] we would be in the grand final and I will stick with that."