Devastation about sums up van Dyk's feeling on the matter too.
It wasn't until June when van Dyk unexpectedly pulled the pin on her international career that we realised the veteran's first-half appearance in the Ferns' Tri Series win over Jamaica in England in January was her last outing as a Silver Fern. The end of an extraordinary career passed by at the time unacknowledged.
While the relaxed, "shoot and giggle" atmosphere of the Fast5 tournament is a world away from the intensity of test netball, it was an opportunity for van Dyk to bow out of the international arena on grander terms than a hurriedly arranged media announcement six weeks out from the Commonwealth Games, as was the case earlier this year.
Van Dyk said she was gutted she wouldn't get one last hit-out with her New Zealand teammates.
"There's been a few tears ... I was pretty emotional. I'd been really looking forward to it and it was supposed to be a massive hurrah," she said.
"I think the most upsetting thing is I've never had any real injuries before so to have this happen now is pretty gutting."
Fast Ferns coach Janine Southby asked van Dyk to stay on in the team as a technical adviser for the tournament - a role the shooting ace has happily accepted. Young Magic shooter Malia Paseka has been called in as van Dyk's replacement.
With the Ferns' preparation time for this weekend's tournament already limited, the late change to the team has further complicated the team's build-up. But Southby said she had been impressed with the way Paseka has slotted into the line-up after just one training session.
"The poor girl turned up at 9am and we said 'okay Malia, this is the game in a nutshell', and the younger ones have been tasked now to upskill her on the rules," she said.
There was a further scare in the New Zealand camp yesterday with captain Laura Langman missing the morning training while she had a lower leg injury assessed by medical staff, but the dynamic midcourter has been given the all-clear to play this weekend.
