PLIMMERTON high school student Charlotte Browning is looking to make Rockz premier 1 netball team after proving herself on the court at the pre-season tournament at Taita on Saturday.
Charlotte, 17, began playing club netball at the age of 15 and went straight in to the top team.
Some people are born with a talent and others work hard to get it, but for this Plimmerton goalshoot, it’s a bit of both.
“I think my shooting is natural, but I work hard for my other stuff. I’ve always been good at shooting,” says Charlotte.
This goalshoot began playing netball at Plimmerton School in year 6, after her family moved to New Zealand from Wales.
Now she is training to get into four different teams: school team Aotea senior A, club team Rockz Premier 1, and Wellington under-19 representatives and Kapi-Mana reps.
At Saturday’s tournament, Charlotte played for the Rockz club’s premier one team.
Rockz president Melissa Love says the tournament was a means for trying out possible teams.
“We’ll be announcing the teams later this week.”
Melissa was Charlotte’s coach when she first joined the club three years ago.
“She was still at college but she made it into our premier 1 team, and was in that team again last year and is going for it again this year.”
She thinks Charlotte could make it into the Silver Ferns. “It all depends on her but the potential is there. She has the right height, good shot and has good vision for it.”
Charlotte would enjoy being a Silver Fern as one thing she likes about netball is the chance to travel.
She has met Silver Ferns goal shoot Irene van Dyk, who passed on some shooting tips and advice. “She told me I should be practising at least half an hour a day.”
Charlotte listened and says she trains for about 11 hours a week. “We do more if there’s an event or something coming up.”
Despite all the training, Charlotte does not plan on following netball as a career. She would like to be a primary school teacher, andcoach the school netball team.
She got a taste of coaching last year when she took on a year 9 team.
Charlotte says her biggest inspiration is her mum, Debbie Williams. “She’s the one who got me started.”
Debbie says 2011 was Charlotte’s biggest year for netball so far.
Charlotte was playing for Aotea senior A and Rockz Premier 1 as well as being selected to play for both under-17 and under-19 reps and Kapi-Mana reps.
“She went from a season off to making it into the Rockz top team as well as Aotea’s senior A team and into reps.”
Charlotte missed out on playing in the 2010 netball season because of a broken wrist. She did not notice it was broken till two weeks later. “I kept playing netball for two weeks. Then I noticed I didn’t have any force in my passes so we went to get it checked out.”
Charlotte says the best thing about netball is how competitive it can get and the way the game can change quickly. “You can be losing one minute, and then have a massive come back and win.”
Debbie says Charlotte is good at keeping her cool on the netball court. “It can be hard when there are other parents there trying to tell them what to do. She is able to hold herself when people on the side-lines are being choppy.
“She’ll tell them to be quiet without being rude.”
Charlotte is in her final year at Aotea College, but will continue to play netball after college through her club.