Netball: Shooting stars

One of the three top shooters in the world: Irene van Dyk, the benchmark shooter. Photo / Richard Robinson

Ruth Aitken calls it a combination of science and art. Irene van Dyk feels it is 99 per cent mental. Sharelle McMahon says she does it without thinking.

The process of propelling a 450gm netball through a small hoop (380mm in diameter) over 3m high remains a unique, mysterious and crucial skill.

"What you do as a shooter - preparing to receive the ball and transfer into the shot - is down to constant repetition and doing it the same all the time," says Aitken. "Then you have to have an uncanny ability to shut everything else out and shoot like nothing is at stake when everything is at stake.

"It is quite artistic in its own right, while you have six foot 'monsters' jumping all over you, the clock ticking down, 10,000 people in the stands - it does take a special person and that is why they are a bit hard to come by.

"We have a lot of players that love trying at the shooting games we have in practice. The defenders think they are quite good but nobody is offering to put the bib on in the court, they are just wannabes."


IRENE VAN DYK
* Height: 1.90m
* Age: 38
* Caps: 104 (NZ), 72 (SA)
* Debut: 1994

Irene van Dyk is still searching for the holy grail. She has played 104 matches for the Silver Ferns across a decade but only once has come close to what she considers the 'perfect' game.

Sportspeople often talk about being in the zone, a state of flow where everything they touch turns to gold. Think Daniel Carter in 2005 against the Lions; Roger Federer at his imperious best in Wimbledon; Diego Maradona dribbling past half the England team in 1986; Brian Lara carving his way to 400 not out.

For van Dyk, her time came in Kingston, Jamaica, in the final of the 2003 world championships. The Ferns bested arch-rivals Australia 49-47 to claim their fourth world title and it was almost a spiritual experience for the1.90m shooter.

"It felt amazing. It didn't matter where you got the ball, it felt like you had 10 seconds to take the shot," she recalls. "It doesn't matter what the defenders do, it doesn't faze you. You are in a zone - it is just you and the goalpost - nothing else and no one else. Nothing that the umpires do can faze you and it feels like you have all the time in the world to put up the shot."

Van Dyk always hopes her next time out on court will be that game.

"You aim to find that magic again - it is the best feeling in the world. It is sad that it doesn't happen more often. Bloody hell - once every 20 years is not enough."

Van Dyk made her debut for South Africa back in 1994 and is entering her 17th year of international netball. She remains at the top of the tree, the undisputed queen of goal shooting.

The 38-year-old scored 555 goals during the most recent ANZ Championship season, 68 more than the next best player. Her famed accuracy is still as sharp as ever, managing to sink over 93 per cent of attempts. Nobody else notched more 85 per cent. To put it another way, van Dyk missed only once every 16 attempts on average.

When wearing the silver fern, she has shot almost 4000 goals and maintains a quite incredible 90.56 shooting percentage in international matches.

Despite all the records, achievements and experience, van Dyk claims she still gets nervous before every shot.

"I can never, ever relax in a game," she says. "When the game starts and the centre gives a centre pass, the nerves go out of them, but they never ever go out of a shooter - or not out of me. The nerves stay there for a whole game.

Having said that, van Dyk maintains calmness is crucial: "As a shooter, you never want to freak out when you get the ball," says van Dyk. "The more you do it and the more you practice, the more it goes into your subconscious and it comes naturally. Eventually it is just like going through the motions.

"Every time you miss a shot, that is the only shot you remember and that is the worst thing for a shooter," van Dyk admits. And just as easily as confidence can come, it goes again.

"There are moments when you think - please - I am getting nailed by the defender - please don't pass me the ball. Please just not again," says van Dyk. "Probably 99 per cent of shooting is mental and that is why goalkeepers try to get inside shooter's heads - whacking you around, varying their jump."

Australian defender Susan Fuhrman, who enjoys a height advantage over van Dyk, says there is only one recipe for success against the Kiwi.

"Putting in your absolute best for every minute," Fuhrman says. "You have to have a couple of tricks up your sleeve and keep on changing your game but working your butt off is essential. She is an amazing player, she has so much experience and can change her style depending on which defender she comes up against."

Once seen as one-dimensional, van Dyk has been forced to change her game over the years and has become a lot more mobile.

"When she came from South Africa, she was like another post beside the post," jokes Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken. "It was about catching the ball and shooting the goal really."

Aitken recounts a tale of a young Irene being asked to defend: "Defence? - I don't do defence" was the curt reply.

Since those days, van Dyk has added variety, developing her ability to dodge and roll off defenders when her favoured options near the post are not available.

There is no doubt the ultra consistent van Dyk has changed perceptions. She religiously practices 300 shots daily, a work ethic worthy of the name. In the past, 80 per cent was generally considered the benchmark for shooters. Not any more.

"She has raised the bar so much," says Aitken. "If she doesn't shoot in the 90s, everybody is saying 'oh my gosh Irene, what happened?' Before she came on the scene, that wasn't even a thought.

"People think Irene is always going to be able to do that - but it is not a given. I think people need to appreciate that we are seeing one of a kind really and it won't be until she is no longer there that we will realise how much she is missed."

Van Dyk claims statistics are just a bonus, though the expectation does get to her sometimes.

"If I have a 90 per cent game and the other shooter has a 78 per cent game and the commentator says that she has been playing brilliant netball and I'm just having an average game, that does get up my nose."


ROMELDA AIKEN
* Height: 1.96m
* Age: 21
* Caps: 23
* Debut: 2005

She is one of the few Jamaicans who doesn't look up to Usain Bolt. Standing at 1.96m, Romelda Aiken is taller than the long-limbed sprinter.

The netballers do their physical training at the same track as Bolt and his squad, hence the occasional meetings.

Aiken is nowhere near as famous as the triple Olympic gold medallist but the Queensland Firebirds marquee player has carved her own place in the spotlight, both in Jamaica and her new base Australia.

"Once it was a problem to go out," remembers Jamaican coach Connie Francis, "Everywhere she went people said 'wow, you are so tall' but now she is a star and very confident."

"At one stage I was very self-conscious," Aiken admits, "but I realised it comes with being famous. You have to deal with all kinds of things. I think it is a blessing for me to be this tall and I just take it on board as a gift."

Aiken made her international debut for Jamaica as a 16-year-old in 2005 and came to prominence two years later when she was named player of the tournament at the world championships in Auckland. She tasted victory twice over the Silver Ferns last season and is already something of a veteran.

"She knows that she is in charge now," Francis says. "She is the head and not the tail, as we say. She is much more confident, wants to win and is always encouraging other players - not only a student of the game but she has become a teacher as well."

Silver Ferns goal keep Casey Williams will be charged with the unenviable task of shutting down Aiken in the two-test series which starts on Wednesday.

"It's always a challenge [and] you know you can't do it by yourself," Williams points out. "You need help from the entire defensive end to work together as a unit. Due to her time in Australia, she understands the game a lot more and has improved her physical strength."

Williams has been locking horns with Aiken since the 2005 world youth championships. "When I first saw her, I remember thinking 'oh my gosh - how are we going to get the ball off this girl? She is massive and she can shoot'."

The Jamaican sees Irene van Dyk as the benchmark but is targeting her crown.

"Anyone can be the best shooter [in the world] if they put in the hard work. I think it is achievable and it is a road I am willing to take."

Aiken, ANZ Championship player of the year in 2008 and 2009, accepts the pressure that goes with her position: "It is very hard being a shooter; you are targeted every time," she admits.

"But it comes with making your team win and it gives you extra responsibility as a player. You have to concentrate on getting one ball in at a time. If you miss, get the rebound, relax and shoot. Everything you do in practice . . . that is what you go on court and do."

Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken is a keen observer of the Jamaican: "She has always had those 'Inspector Gadget'-style arms and legs - she goes on forever - but there is much more to the picture. She has a huge 'split' - she can take the ball halfway in the circle and because she splits so well, she ends up under the posts.

"She has expanded her range, introduced dodges and rolls and is very accurate. Plus she is a great rebounder - the ball usually comes straight back at her because she is right under the post."

By her own high standards, Aiken admits to a frustrating 2010 at the Firebirds, amid rumours of a spat with Queensland team-mate Natalie Medhurst.

She still finished as the sixth best shooter in the ANZ Championship but national coach Francis felt her game became little too "Australian-ised".

"She changed her shooting style. Her post game left her - I didn't like what I saw when I came down here. She has also taken on the Australian style of faking before she shoots, which is unnecessary - I don't see anybody in the world that can block her shots."

Francis says her star pupil will soon be back to her awesome best with the Commonwealth Games just around the corner and world championships on the horizon.

Aiken says she is determined to finish off this year in the best possible way. After a bronze medal in 2007 and silver in the Fastnet series last year, she will be aiming to complete the set in Delhi.

And have golden Memories to share next time she runs into Usain.


SHARELLE McMAHON
* Height: 1.77m
* Age: 32
* Caps: 105
* Debut: 1998

She will always be the girl who broke Kiwi hearts. Sharelle McMahon was the key figure in the dramatic last second 42-41 loss at the world championships in Christchurch in 1999, sinking the winning goal at the death. Three years later, in Manchester, McMahon's poise again proved the difference in an agonising Commonwealth Games defeat in extra time.

"It is always a mixed feeling when you win such an important game in a big tournament," McMahon recalls. "There is the absolute excitement, the thrill, but relief is mixed in there - thinking that all the hard work you put in has actually paid off. They are two of my favourite memories of being involved with the Australian team and two of my proudest moments as well."

The affable McMahon, also pivotal in the 2007 world championships win in Waitakere, has no issue with being the constant thorn in our sides. She is probably the best all-round netballer on the planet; a proven match winner, with ice in her veins when it comes to putting the ball through the hoop. Traditionally a goal attack, McMahon has worn the goal shoot bib in several big matches with aplomb.

At only 1.77m, she has the agility and spring-heeled leap of a centre. She also has great vision and a passing range that a wing attack would be proud of. Underlining all this is an almost brutish physicality one might normally associate with rugby league.

Silver Ferns captain Casey Williams, no shrinking violet herself, knows all about trying to combat McMahon. "If you back off at any time, she will jump right in there and walk all over you, so you can never do that," says Williams. "You have to dominate or you will be dominated."

New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken agrees: "She is very fit and agile but most of all it is her incredible competitive nature. The tougher it gets, the better she likes it - she is very feisty, very competitive. She likes to muscle up just as much as defenders like to do it back to her. She's got better at controlling that because there was a time when she'd literally throw herself around the court in an effort to get ball."

McMahon laughs off the New Zealand claims: "There is always a physical side to the game and it is getting more physical - the contest for the ball is something that I really enjoy. When I first started, it was all 100 per cent, 100 per cent of the time. Now I have a bit more variation and try to keep them guessing."

She has maintained an 82 per cent shooting success rate across her 105 games for the Diamonds, is the captain and seems to be getting better with age. Despite being plagued by injuries in the last few seasons, her desire remains just as strong - an ominous sign for Silver Ferns.