BITE OF BURGER
SIGI Burger plays three instruments, speaks three languages and won ballroom dancing championships at the age of 10 ... but doesn’t trust herself to stray out of trouble with her national netball head coach.
The now Bond University Bull Sharks player was earlier this month on route to Australia to compete in the Sapphire Series when she was suddenly called into South Africa’s World Cup side after a teammate went down with injury.
As she landed in Johannesburg and was in the process of transferring flights to Australia, the 23-year-old explained that she nearly didn’t learn of her call-up.
“As I switched my phone on, it exploded with messages from Norma Plummer, our head coach of South Africa,” said Burger, the cousin of South African rugby great Schalk Burger.
“I just thought ‘what did I do wrong?’ because I’m always in trouble.
“I wasn’t going to open her messages until I got to Australia because I seriously thought I was in trouble so I wanted to wait for everything to die down.
“I was walking to the Qantas check-in lounge and she phoned me saying where are you so I said I was about to fly to Sydney and she told me ‘no don’t get on that plane’.”
Now finally on the Gold Coast after her World Cup whirlwind, Burger is ready to rip in with the Bull Sharks.
“After I didn’t make the World Cup team I thought I’d take three months off netball,” she said.
“I got a message from (coach) Stu (Allen) saying Bond needed a shooter so I thought about it and then said ‘sure, I’d love to come.’
“I see it as a working holiday but its been absolutely incredible so far and such high intensity.”
Burger arrived last week and trained that night on the back of 30 hours of travel: “I fell over a few times.”
Her return to the Gold Coast brings back a flood of memories for the 193cm shooting giant who was part of South Africa’s Commonwealth Games side, though this time Burger said she’d fully explore the Glitter Strip.
“I thought I’d start a YouTube channel and start vlogging like ‘Sigi explores the Gold Coast’,” she said.
“I’d love a boyfriend as well ... joking ... not actually joking.”
After what she’s seen so far, Burger believes the Bull Sharks are a sure thing to grab their first Sapphire Series win this weekend despite losing all four matches so far.
Bond play the Wildcats tomorrow at QSNC (6.50pm).
“I honestly think we can win,” Burger said. “We had a practice match on the weekend and I was training with them and just thought ‘wow you guys are good’.”