CELEBRATING TANIA
Netball star will shine at Games
The husband of former Silver Fern Tania Dalton says his wife’s teammates will be looking to celebrate her life in style when they tip off their World Masters Games campaign today.
A dozen Kiwi netball stars will take to the court as the largest multisport event in the world — which has more athletes than the Olympics — gets into full swing.
The Games opening ceremony last night at Eden Park had the crowd waving glow sticks to add to the spectacle of the laser light show.
Athletes and supporters in attendance were treated to a rousing haka and speeches before participants paraded around the hallowed ground by sporting code, rather than country.
Almost 25,000 athletes from 100 nations — including more than 10,000 Kiwi competitors — are in Auckland for the 10 days of competition.
A few big names lined up to compete include Victoria Cross winner Willie Apiata, former All Black Steve McDowell, Olympic medallist Sir Peter Snell and ex- Silver Fern Anna Stanley, who will be competing in Dalton’s honour.
Dalton, who represented New Zealand on the court for more than a decade and played provincial netball for the Northern Force and Southern Sting, tragically died aged just 45 last month, several days after suffering an aneurysm while playing touch rugby.
Before her death the goal shoot had planned to compete in the World Masters Games with a group of friends — including fellow former internationals — who she’d played with in a College Rifles Old Girls team. Her husband Duane told the Week
end Herald the team was part of his wife’s “phenomenal network of high performing friends” who had supported the charity.
“They want to celebrate every- thing that was Tania, so not only will they be highly competitive on the court, they’ll be out there having a lot of fun, a huge amount of laughs and I really think they’re doing her proud in terms of how they conduct themselves out on court.”
Team manager Lauren Arndt said Dalton and her friends — a dozen exnetballers over the age of 40, including Anna Stanley and former Auck- land player Kelly Rattray — wanted to compete in the Games netball tournament so their kids could watch them play and so they could have a laugh together. The team was going to be called the Masters of the Universe, but after losing their goal shoot and friend the women decided to rename themselves the “TBags” — a nickname of Dalton’s. “It just evolved into ‘ let’s make this more of a tribute to her’.” The TBags had spent a lot of time together since Dalton’s death, including supporting her husband Duane when Pita Pit — the business he and Dalton coowned with friend Chris Henderson — launched its new free- range menu on Wednesday. Former Auckland Diamonds player Nicky Cattermoul said they wanted to support Dalton’s family in any way they could. In the lead- up to the tournament the team had been fundraising for the Tania Dalton Foundation, a charity which Duane formed to honour her legacy. Arndt said they wanted to raise another $ 2000 by collecting money on the sidelines at the Games this week. Duane said the Tania Dalton Foun- dation aims to give “young women an opportunity to be the best people they can be through the vehicle of sport”.
“It’s set up to assist challenged women, ultimately so they can go on and be the best version of who they are.
“It’s [ for] people that still have a chance to make a real difference and kick on in their lives and then grow and support and assist others.”
The foundation was inclusive — women athletes from all sports codes could apply for support and it didn’t have a specific age cut off for who qualified as “young”.
“For us the word ‘ challenged’ was deliberate because it doesn’t necessarily mean financially disadvantaged — it may be through the loss of a parent or a brother or sister, it could be through a poor upbringing,” Duane said.
The World Masters Games netball tournament begins today at the Auckland Netball Centre in St Johns. The TBags will play their first match at 9.30am on Court 8. For more information about the Tania Dalton Foundation visit taniadaltonfoundation.org. nz or find out more about the TBags at facebook.com/teamtbags