In a year full of change, including playing for Central Manawa in the Synergy Hair Netball League (NNL), teenaged midcourter Skylah Tainui-Takerei is revelling in her new post-school life.
Making the move from Auckland in her first year out of school to begin studying a Bachelor of Health degree at Victoria University in Wellington, Tainui-Takerei is also making the first moves in the progression of a promising netball career, with Manawa.A member of the Howick College team which won the NZ Secondary Schools Champs last year, Tainui-Takerei, 18, is also a former New Zealand Secondary School and Aotearoa Māori Secondary School representative.
"I always wanted to play NNL and when this opportunity came up with Manawa I didn't hesitate," she said. "It's definitely been a big step but I'm enjoying it and just being able to get this experience under my belt is great.
"It's been awesome, the girls have been great and the coaches really welcoming. It's quite a professional environment, very inviting, I feel very welcome here and I'm learning heaps."
After a first-up loss, Manawa went straight into a bye round, so have had a couple of extra weeks to refine and add clarity to work-on areas before coming up against defending champions, the Comets, in Auckland on Saturday.
That team includes a couple of mates Tainui-Takerei played with at Howick College, Charlie Lindsay and Avah Sila, in an experienced Comets line-up, with Manawa hoping to put a dent in their credentials.
"We're going out to win by putting 100 percent effort in and making sure we all own our jobs," Tainui-Takerei said.
Playing out of the Wellington East Old Girls club, Tainui-Takerei is happy to absorb all the opportunities going her way while banking the experience as she pushes for higher honours down the track.
"I think she has found her feet quite quickly and just got straight into it," Manawa assistant coach Cushla Lichtwark said.
"She's got a great work ethic and great base skill sets which when the pace of the game goes up, the technical parts of the game go up, they just grow with it, so the transition for her has been great.
"And we've seen that growth from the trials through to the pre-season parts of the campaign and now into the playing parts of the campaign, so she just needs to keep doing what she's doing.
"The vision with her attack and also her passing skills sets and finding the shooters and the other feeders with her ball placement, that's what everyone wants in a wing attack/centre. She has a fantastic base fitness and a high work rate on court, so I think she's showing great promise.
"It's a progression and exposure for her at this higher level. It's her first year out of school, she's come down here to go to university and that's a big adjustment as well but she's a pretty smart cookie."