Ekenasio picks up pace in Netball return

Ekenasio picks up pace in Netball return

TUESDAY 24 OCTOBER

A return to elite Netball has Ameliaranne Ekenasio facing one of her biggest challenges as she prepares to suit up for the game’s fast-paced short format.

Ekenasio is part of a 10-strong FAST5 Ferns squad building towards this weekend’s Fast5 Netball World Series in Melbourne.

It has been just four months since the birth of her first child, Ocean, and despite the demands of juggling motherhood with the commitments of top level netball the silky shooter is excited about returning to the game alongside some of New Zealand’s rising talent.

“I’m super excited,” she said. “It’s a pretty big challenge though. Obviously it’s been so long since I’ve played at that level so hopefully it all goes well. I’m excited and nervous at the same time.”

The FAST5 Ferns arrive in Australia today for the October 28-29 event as favourites having dominated with six titles from seven tournaments, but Ekenasio said they had not discussed chasing a fifth straight title.

She said it was a young New Zealand team which would compete across the ditch and they would be careful not to heap too much pressure on themselves.

“I guess it’s probably that pink elephant in the room that no-one really wants to talk about yet,” she said regarding the FAST5 Ferns past success.

“It is a young team coming through. Hopefully we can just go into it without putting too much pressure on ourselves as a team and we’ll probably perform better that way.”

Ekenasio, 26, said she had been putting in plenty of cardio mileage ahead of the World Series with the short format of the game a change of pace.

“There’s enough running in normal netball anyway but Fast5’s definitely a running game,” she said with a laugh. “It’s being able to maintain that pace and still put the shots away. For me it’s about doing short sharp and real high intense bursts building up.”

The 12-test veteran may also be tempted to call on fellow Fern Maria Tutaia who set the series alight last year with her long range shooting prowess.

“The longer shots win you games,” Ekenasio said. “(Maria) is like the queen of Fast5 so it’ll be a shame not to have her around but hopefully us shooters can kind of draw on her knowledge.”

Defender Storm Purvis will captain the FAST5 Ferns and the side will be coached by gold-medal winning New Zealand under-21 coach Kiri Wills for a second year. New Zealand has won six of the seven tournaments with England the only other team to claim the title in 2011.

Ends

The FAST5 Ferns to play in the Fast5 Netball World Series in Melbourne October 28-29:

Kayla Cullen
Ameliaranne Ekenasio
Temalisi Fakahokotau
Monica Falkner
Jamie Hume
Erikana Pedersen
Storm Purvis (captain)
Whitney Souness
Zoe Walker
Maia Wilson

MATCH SCHEDULE (NZ local time)
Saturday
Game 3 NZL v ENG 5:15pm
Game 6 NZL v RSA 7:30pm
Game 9 AUS v NZL 9:45pm

Sunday
Game 12 NZL v JAM 3:45pm
Game 14 NZL v MAL 5:15pm
Game 16 PLAY OFF (5th & 6th) 7:45pm
Game 17 PLAY OFF (3rd & 4th) 8:35pm
Game 18 GRAND FINAL 9:45pm

USEFUL INFO
Online home of the FAST5 Ferns - silverferns.co.nz
Online home of the Fast5 Netball World Series - fast5worldseries.com.au

OFFICIAL HASHTAGS
#FAST5Ferns | #Fast5WorldSeries | #SilverFans

ends

© Scoop Media