KEY POINTS:
Rawinia Everitt's mother and grandmother urged her to quit rugby as a teenager, and give her body and soul to netball. Rugby was far too dangerous, they said.
"When I played rugby, I got the odd bumps and bruises. But nowhere near the injuries I have now," Everitt laughs.
The gutsy and ultra-talented Diamonds midcourter hides her pain almost every time she goes on court in the National Bank Cup.
She has blisters on top of blisters on the balls of her feet. Pain can shoot down her legs from a back injury she suffered hauling furniture two years ago.
Everitt is the dictionary definition of spirited: "characterised by animation, vigour or courage".
She's a tough cookie - determined not to let her injuries get her down; determined to help the Diamonds into the semifinals after the final round robin game this weekend.
"Blisters are such wussy things. You try not to worry about them on court, but rub them up the wrong way, and they give you grief," the 21-year-old says.
The blisters are a spin-off from her back injury - she tries to adopt different running styles on court to avoid the pain in her back and legs. It's an injury she describes as "very stupid".
"I helped a guy lift a couch off a truck - he was on the truck, and I was on the ground and all the weight packed on to my body," says Everitt, who is a diminutive 1.76m tall.
She didn't feel the effects straight away, but last year she was forced to take three months off - missing the national provincial championships - to give her body a rest.
It wasn't until last month that a spinal surgeon was able to diagnose exactly what was wrong - a prolapsed disc in her spine that's pushing against her spinal cord.
"When I play and train, it hurts, but I just try to zone it out as much as possible. I just take it quarter by quarter," she says.
After the NBC, Everitt will have further tests on her spine to determine what treatment she needs to complement the physiotherapy and rehabilitation she is now having. Since being chosen as best midcourter at the 2004 national secondary schools tournament, where her Auckland Girls Grammar team triumphed, Everitt has leaped from one national squad to the next - talent identification in 2005, New Zealand under-21s last year, and now the New Zealand A squad.
Her next logical step is the Silver Ferns squad - "I dream about, I see it sometimes; I just need to do it," she says.
"A big part of that is getting my body right."
After taking six months off her studies in sports and commerce to pour her efforts into netball, Everitt wants to see her Diamonds side make the top four play-offs, and wants their last round game against the Flyers on Sunday to be one of her best.
"I don't think I have played my best netball yet.
"I have some creases I want to iron out - I want to play a whole 60 minutes of brilliant netball. But I think the entire Diamonds team want to pull together a whole 60-minute effort this weekend - we haven't managed it yet," she says.
"But there's a different vibe in our team this year, on and off the court. We all get on like a house on fire - we push each other and help each other.
"My family lives in Australia now, so the Diamonds are my family here."
Everitt, known by her teammates as Ra, says she has learned much from former Silver Fern midcourter Jenny-May Coffin, who joined the Diamonds this season.
At Wednesday night's training, the Diamonds discussed the scenarios that could see them through to the top four.
The simple solution is the Sting must beat the Flames tomorrow before the Diamonds do the same to the winless Flyers on Sunday.
Last season, they were in an identical situation - and the Flames upset the Sting to grab fourth spot.
"We didn't want to face this scenario again, but we've put ourselves here. It's just how sport is - someone has to lose, someone has to win. I'm hoping our campaign won't end this weekend, and we're still training hard and talking through game plans. But if it does end, so be it," she says.
Everitt, once the only girl in a rugby team at intermediate school, has no regrets about following the advice of her mother and grandmother to turn to netball, but she has not excluded rugby.
"Sure, I have new goals now - netball goals - but maybe I will go back to rugby one day."
Round Seven
* Tonight: Magic v Rebels, Dunedin, 7.30pm.
* Tomorrow: Flames v Sting, Christchurch, 4pm (Live TVOne).
* Sunday: Diamonds v Flyers, Trusts Stadium, Waitakere, 1pm; Force v Shakers, Wellington, 1pm
