Stuff > Sport > Story

Willcox to return to her Kiwi roots

By JANE MARSHALL - The Press | Wednesday, 17 December 2008

Email a Friend | Printable View

Related Links

Subscribe to Archivestuff

Comment on this story

She talks like an Australian, throws a netball like an Australian but Larrissa Willcox insists she is all Kiwi.

The chance to return to her native New Zealand to play for the Tactix in netball's trans-Tasman league proved an easy decision to make.

"I'm from New Zealand so I've been keen to return for a while and netball was the perfect opportunity for me to come back."

Willcox, who was born in Raetihi near Mount Ruapehu but moved to Perth as a seven-year-old, was a member of the West Coast Fever in the first season of the ANZ Championship.

The start of the elite league sparked the netballer's desire to return to her roots. She was ready for a change both on and off court.

"I'm a bit of a risk taker," she said. "I could have stayed in my comfort zone in Perth but I wanted to try something new."

She approached a number of New Zealand franchises and was picked up by the Tactix.

Now the circle defender is preparing to leave family and friends behind in Perth to settle in Christchurch for the 2009 season.

She has been impressed with the Tactix set-up during a fleeting visit since Friday so much so that she had been contemplating staying on through to January 15 when her contract proper begins with the netball franchise.

But family Christmas celebrations back in Perth and a mum insisting on her return for the festive season means a few more frequent flyer miles across the Tasman.

"When my mum uses my full name I know she means business so I have to go back," she said sheepishly.

Willcox will keep her bags packed for a return to Christchurch on January 9 to prepare for the first pre-season camp a week later.

Her first touch of a netball in her birth country was not until this year when the Fever took on the Mystics in round three of the new league.

Willcox learned her court craft in Australia as an eight-year-old, one year after her family moved to Perth.

She played five years in the national league with the Perth Orioles before the sport took on a semi-professional look with the trans-Tasman competition.

"Pretty much across the board I think it was an eye-opener for all teams," Willcox said. "But it was enough to know I definitely wanted more."

There were tough times for the ninth-placed Fever, however with travel one of the hardest aspects for a young team facing long-haul flights for away games.

Last season's 11th-round clash with the Southern Steel in Dunedin and the quick turnaround for a home game against the Melbourne Vixens just five days later highlighted the demands.

"It was basically 96 hours of travel, play, travel," Willcox said. "It was unbelievable."

She believes moving to "any other team" in the championship would cut her travel time in half.

But Willcox was also attracted across the ditch by the high profile the sport has in New Zealand and by the "experienced heads" at the Tactix.

At 26 she was deemed a senior player in a fresh-faced Fever team.

"It will be nice to have that extra knowledge and experience around me."

Despite growing up in Australia, Willcox has been a Silver Ferns supporter since she was young and still cheers for the All Blacks. "I'm still a Kiwi. I still yell for New Zealand."

But she stops short when it comes to switching her domestic allegiances fully to the red-and-black of Canterbury. "I still support Wellington," she laughed.

Email a Friend | Printable View

Next Story: Test return on hold for Oram
- More Sport Stories