Henry all set to fire
Here’s a thought to send a chill through Joline Henry’s team-mates and opponents alike.
‘‘I have a bit more steely resolve now, having had my son,’’ Henry said ahead of the Central Pulse’s trans-Tasman Netball League opener against the Adelaide Thunderbirds tonight.
The words ‘‘shrinking’’ and ‘‘violet’’ have never been used in connection with the Pulse and Silver Ferns wing defence. For years now, there’s hardly been a more abrasive and forthright player in the game than Henry.
But 2013 taught the 31-year-old that she’d only been scratching the surface. The going was pretty tough for she and son Te Aihireinga early on, but that’s just made her stronger.
Her boy’s now 13-months-old and Henry herself is in peak condition, having made it through last year’s Pulse and Silver Ferns campaigns on sheer bloody mindedness.
‘‘I wouldn’t do it again. I reflect on last year and think ‘was I nuts?’,’’ said Henry, who commutes to the Pulse from Hamilton.
‘‘I kept breast feeding, even when I was travelling. He was three-weeks-old when I made my first trip down here. I was back playing at 11 weeks. Silly me.
‘‘I’m not saying it’s not doable for other mums out there. I’m just saying I’d treat myself with a bit more care next time.’’
Aside from teaching Henry the true extent to which she can push herself, this experience has also made her more focused.
‘‘I clock in and I’m here to do a job and I’m here to do it hard. If anyone’s not here to do it with the same intensity, then go and sit on the bench or go home for a cup of tea because I’m here to work.’’
Which isn’t to say there haven’t, or won’t be, moments of doubt. The Silver Ferns’ unbeaten tour to the United Kingdom in January, being a case in point.
‘‘That was bloody hard. I’m not going to lie. The couple of weeks leading up to it I’d worked myself into a state knowing I wasn’t going to see him for nearly3 weeks,’’ Henry said.
‘‘But when I got into camp I looked at the girls and thought, if we’re going to do this we’re going to do it properly and I’m going to damn well make it a success.’’
The Pulse beat the Thunderbirds the last time they came to town and tipped them over again, at the recent pre-season tournament in Melbourne. But the Thunderbirds’ Jamaican shooter Carla Borrego barely played the Melbourne match and her partnership with goal attack Erin Bell is one of that team’s real strengths.