Dana Johannsen: 200th test milestone for unique van Dyk

Irene van Dyk. Photo / Richard Robinson

Opinion

The superlatives to describe Irene van Dyk's remarkable career have long been used up.

Since she arrived in New Zealand over 10 years ago, van Dyk has had more column centimetres dedicated to her than any other player in the sport, and it's hard to know what else you can say about the woman who has seemingly achieved it all.

Throughout her 16-year career as an international netballer she has achieved many noteworthy milestones, breaking new ground and setting records that it is difficult to see another player ever beating.

Tonight she is set to reach another big landmark - an incredible 200 test matches.

But perhaps the much loved star says it best - "holy moley!"

It takes an extraordinary athlete to achieve such a feat of longevity.

Van Dyk's professionalism, work ethic and willingness to continually reinvent herself have seen her overcome many bumps along the way.

It is six years ago this month that van Dyk overtook England's Kendra Slawinski as the world's most capped netballer, when she achieved her 129th international test cap against Australia.

At the time there were doubts over how much longer she would continue in the game, with critics claiming she was a spent force.

Her value to the team has been called into question several more times since then.

She has in reality probably played only a handful of bad games over this time, it is just that in the twilight of her career any poor performance is seen as the harbinger of her demise.

It speaks volumes for van Dyk's character that she has always taken any criticism on the chin and fought back to become an even stronger player, proving that even as she approaches her fifth decade she is still capable of developing her game further.

But at 39 and with 200 test caps under her belt, surely van Dyk has achieved all she could have hoped in the sport?

Who knows? Along with trying to come up with new superlatives, trying to predict when van Dyk will finally hang up her bib is another thing we've long given up.