Gina won’t let past cramp style
Captain Crampton heart of engine-room for Silver Ferns
Four years ago, Gina Crampton was sitting in Dunedin watching New Zealand’s horror Gold Coast Commonwealth Games netball campaign unravel in front of her eyes on television. Now she’s headed for Birmingham as captain, and the failure of that 2018 campaign has provided a bedrock of motivation for the squad.
“It was tough. At the time, I was living with Te Paea Selby-rickit, who went over to the Gold Coast. I really felt for them. People say ‘I bet you’re glad you weren’t there’ — but you always want to be representing New Zealand.”
Although she wasn’t part of the team that failed to win a medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Games, she says it still hurt watching from afar, and the disappointment of that campaign is part of the team’s history.
“We haven’t spoken about it much recently, but we spoke about it before heading into the World Cup in 2019. It’s part of our past. I’m sure it will come up at some stage but it’s about how we move forward.”
The past four years have brought plenty of change for the 31-year-old specialist wing attack.
In 2019, she was part of the winning Silver Ferns team at the Netball World Cup in Liverpool. At the end of 2020 she said goodbye to Dunedin after a decade in the south, studying and playing for the Steel. The Stars came calling, and Crampton signed with the South Auckland franchise for the 2021 ANZ Premiership season.
She continued to go from strength to strength in the black dress, earning her first chance at the captaincy last year, making her the 28th player to lead the Silver Ferns, when regular skipper Ameliaranne Ekenasio was pregnant.
But now with Ekenasio selected as a nontravelling reserve, Crampton has taken on the top job. She says she’s a bit out of the loop when it comes to the Commonwealth Games as Birmingham will be her first.
“I don’t know hugely what to expect so I can’t wait to see what it’s all about.”
The omission of Ekenasio initially shocked New Zealand netball fans after she took on the captaincy role at the start of 2020. But Crampton’s excited to lead the team alongside vice-captain Sulu Fitzpatrick.
But she warns not to be surprised to see sharpshooter Ekenasio back in the black dress.
“Meels is a massive loss. She’s a world-class player and everybody knows that. She’s not quite in the space she wants to be physically at the moment, but she’s going to do everything possible to get to get there.”
Coach Dame Noeline Taurua has made it clear that there is no starting seven going into the Commonwealth Games, but if one selection is certain it’s that Crampton will be wearing the wing attack bib. She has been New Zealand’s first-choice wing attack under Taurua since 2018.
Crampton’s ability to get free from her defender and seamlessly drive on to circle edge puts her ahead of the other New Zealand midcourters. She’s calm, methodical and accurate — three key traits for a world-class wing attack.
Taurua says the midcourt is the engine-room of a netball team and Crampton has a motor that never seems to stop and has impeccable timing, pulling off pin point passes to her shooters under the post. ● New Zealand open their Commonwealth Games netball campaign on July 29 against Northern Ireland. — NZ Herald