Shooter Steph Wood ready for Diamonds netball debut in Quad series
SHE was the player no one wanted or picked for years. The shooter told she was simply too short to succeed. Now she’s about to make her Diamonds debut.
Women's sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Women's sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Diamonds netball: Ultimate Guide
- Aussie women in Rio: The numbers game
- Triathlon great heading to Paralympics
- Edwina Tops-Alexander: The numbers game
- Jessica Fox: The numbers game
SHE was the player no one wanted or picked for years.
The shooter and midcourter told she was simply too short to succeed.
This weekend Steph Wood gets to prove all her old critics wrong when she makes her likely debut as an Australian Diamond.
Wood says her selection in the Diamonds is a victory for shooters with good aim and mobility but lacking the height of the increasingly popular netball “tells”.
“I’ve been told I am short for a long while now next to the 185 giants,” said Wood, whose new Diamond teammate Caitlin Bassett is actually 193cm.
“I’m 175cm but there are things I can do that might be a little different.
“Hopefully this, me being named in the Diamonds squad, inspires some younger plays to keep trying even if they are not as tall as others.”
It is also reward for years of hard work and perseverance for Wood who spent four years in the netball wilderness before being picked up by the NSW Swifts for the 2015 season.
“I guess because it took me a lot longer than most to get here that I was quite speechless when Lisa (Alexander) rang to tell me I was in,” she said.
“It was a tough road. But I think hindsight that if I didn’t go thorough it all that I wouldn’t be here today.
“It made me realise how important this all is. How much I wanted it.
“I decided to give myself one last year, set myself a deadline and then got picked up by the Swifts.
“It’s definitely been worth all the drama.”
On Saturday Woods is expected to step out in a Diamonds uniform for the first time when Australia takes on South Africa in the first match of the 2016 netball Quad series.
“I don’t know when I will get to go on but I know I will be nervous,” she said.
“But when I hit the court they usually go away and it’s all just about the netball.”
2016 Quad Series
Saturday 27th August
Australia v South Africa, Auckland
New Zealand v England, Auckland
Wednesday 31st August
New Zealand v South Africa, Hamilton
Australia v England, Adelaide
Sunday 4th September
England v South Africa, Melbourne
Australia v New Zealand, Melbourne