Michaela Sokolich-Beatson was ordered off the court for 4 to 6 weeks but haggled for two. Photo / Sarah Ivey
It takes more than a bad back to keep a top netball defender down.
Michaela Sokolich-Beatson can attest to that. The 17-year-old Whangaparaoa College prefect was a star performer at last month’s international schoolgirls’ netball challenge in Adelaide, where she was voted the best player for the New Zealand Schools side.
She had to be nursed through the tournament, playing half games in some of the easier matches, and having regular physio on her back which had flared up after running into the goalposts at the Maori nationals. The goal defence was doubtful to even make the trip and was cleared to go just the day before the squad left.
Sokolich-Beatson is not from a netball powerhouse school such as MAGS, Westlake Girls’ or Wellington East Girls’, who provided half the players to the New Zealand side. But do not underestimate Whangaparaoa College, who punch above their weight in the North Harbour premier girls’ competition. The young school is carving a niche for itself and is proud of Sokolich-Beatson’s achievements in being the first to crack this national side.
She is eager to return to the court, but has to bide her time to guard against a stress fracture.
“The [NZ] coaches and physio supported me hard-out. As soon as I came off court, I’d sit down and they chucked me an ice-pack. The physio would tape me up around my stomach so I couldn’t flex back fully. That reminded me I had a sore back. When it was bad, they gave me a Panadol or a massage,” she says.
That pain did not stop her pulling down some crucial intercepts in the final, combining nicely with goal keep Holly Fowler (MAGS).
“I could focus on my job and she would tell me where to go and what to do. We helped each other a lot,” says Sokolich-Beatson. She felt that the final was won when the Australian shooters started arguing among themselves at the end of the first quarter, when the lead was 10.
But that was the last time she played, a sports doctor prescribing a no-netball diet for 4-6 weeks.
“I nearly cried. I said two weeks and he said okay. We had a little argument and I go back [this week].”
Sokolich-Beatson is steeped in netball, and has been exposed to some top coaching, including from former Silver Ferns coach Yvonne Willering in the North Harbour high performance squad, and Marianne Delaney and Julie Seymour with NZ Schools.
On Tuesday nights you will normally find her playing premier club netball for Westlake. Just last year she had a steep learning curve marking Cathrine Latu.
“She’s just so good. She knows how to move the ball without doing much work.”
Sokolich-Beatson is not one to be awestruck – in fact, she comes across as very laid back outside of her netball – but she admires the Leana de Bruin-Casey Kopua defensive combination for the Magic.
“Every netballer’s dream is to play for the Silver Ferns, but I’d rather aim for the ANZ [Championship],” she declares.
Summer is touch for the school and tag for the Hibiscus Coast Raiders. But first priority is to sort that niggly back. Don’t be surprised to see the determined, or should that read stubborn, Sokolich-Beatson back on court for the June 28 Whangaparaoa-Long Bay clash.