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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.

Stephanie Wood is hoping to make her Diamonds debut this weekend.
Stephanie Wood is hoping to make her Diamonds debut this weekend.

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.

Swifts Steph Wood during the 2016 ANZ Championship. Pic: Phil Hillyard
Swifts Steph Wood during the 2016 ANZ Championship. Pic: Phil Hillyard

“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.

Stephanie Wood made a mark for the Swifts this season.
Stephanie Wood made a mark for the Swifts this season.

“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

Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/swoop/shooter-steph-wood-ready-for-diamonds-netball-debut-in-quad-series/news-story/a5e06c64ae347cc1998094ec7f4bb0c4