Saviour Tui spent the summer time strengthening her taking pictures fingers – however not in the best way you would possibly anticipate.
Between ANZ Premiership seasons, the cool, calm Magic shooter labored for a Tauranga flooring enterprise, ripping up outdated carpet and hauling it out of homes.
“I had such sore fingers for the primary week. Muscle mass I’ve by no means felt earlier than in my forearms and fingers,” Tui says.
The 24-year-old smiling murderer of New Zealand netball needed a bodily low season problem. With just a little assist from Magic stalwarts Sheryl and Gary Dawson, who she lives with in Tauranga, she was quickly rolling up her sleeves with Tony Wealthy at Gerrand Floorings.
“I didn’t desire a job the place I used to be sitting inside. I needed one thing hands-on,” Tui says. “The primary time Tony took me to tear up carpet, at a pleasant home, I used to be actually sweating laborious out – and I used to be so sluggish. He confirmed me the way to roll it up and carry it out with out hitting the partitions.”
Sheryl Dawson has seen Tui thrive by the expertise. “She simply lit up on the dinner desk each night time telling us tales about lugging carpet round and assembly new individuals,” she says of Tui, now a part of the Silver Ferns squad.
The Dawsons have performed defining roles in Waikato-Bay of A lot Sport for many years. Sheryl was in advertising with the Magic throughout the franchise’s early days and was CEO once they grew to become the one New Zealand group to win the ANZ Championship, in 2012. On the similar time, Gary was chief government of the Chiefs once they gained their first Tremendous Rugby title.
The couple have additionally taken gamers below their wing every season since 2003, when Silver Fern shooter Anna Senio and her husband, All Black Kevin Senio, got here to remain throughout the Nationwide Financial institution Cup season.
“It’s been thrilling watching them come, develop and go,” Sheryl says. “It’s fascinating most of them have been shooters.”
Amongst these shooters have been Australian Tanya Lund, Arahi Wall, Julianna Naoupu and Silver Ferns captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio.
“We frequently neglect how a lot of an influence that dislocation can have on a participant’s progress. They have to be taken care of once they’re away from residence,” says Dawson, now Magic’s business supervisor.
Tui contacted the Dawsons on the finish of the 2024 season, her first with the Magic, and requested in the event that they’d take her within the following yr. Ekenasio had been staying with the couple for 3 seasons however was shifting her household up from Wellington for the 2025 season.
“Saviour got here to see us along with her mother and father, we had a stunning dinner, after which she joined us final yr,” says Dawson. “She’s a improbable assist round the home, and he or she loves studying to prepare dinner. She’s so variety and caring.”
Tui says she loves the Dawsons, whose help has gone far past giving her someplace to put her head. “Sheryl has helped me to get my thoughts proper – typically I simply want a knock to the top to get centered,” she giggles.
Dawson has watched the younger girl who joined their family final yr blossom on and off the court docket.
“Over the yr we started to see who she actually was and we talked lots about how vital it’s for her to remain her genuine self. She’s a singular and particular younger girl,” she says.
Tui returned to fulltime coaching with the Magic final month, getting ready for the season begin in April. She’s disillusioned she missed the group’s coaching camp Ōhope after being struck down with a abdomen bug.
However she’s trying ahead to taking over extra duty within the Magic taking pictures circle, now Ekenasio has moved again residence to the Pulse – the group’s greatest loss this season, alongside Claire O’Brien’s transfer to the Stars.
Tui’s younger taking pictures companions this season, Kate Taylor and Sarah Guiney, each performed for the New Zealand U21 facet eventually yr’s World Youth Cup in Gibraltar. Tonight, they put their combos to the check of their first pre-season match in opposition to the Stars in Rotorua.
“We’re all sturdy shooters however I positively know that I have to step up,” Tui says. “Meels was a very good chief contained in the circle for me, and now I have to do the identical.”
She has a “pure connection” with Taylor, who performed her first full season with the Magic final yr. “Kate is absolutely sturdy within the circle, she is aware of the way to maintain herself and angle sturdy to get the ball. She’s positively a frontrunner, too – she’s glad to talk up,” she says. “That is positively only the start for Kate.”
Magic coach Mary-Jane Araroa has requested Tui to maneuver from purpose shoot to purpose assault this season.
“Shifting Saviour to GA is about backing her talent set and progress. It’s an thrilling shift for her, and we’re assured she’ll thrive with the added duty and alternative,” Araroa says. “She’s a team-first athlete who brings vitality, connection and actual intent each time she steps on court docket.”
It’s a problem Tui’s relishing.
“One among my targets this yr is to develop my sport. I like enjoying purpose assault, however I simply have to be extra assured there. I positively have to get my health again up, so I can final on the market and be smarter,” Tui says.
Final season, enjoying largely at purpose shoot, Tui ranked among the many league’s high 5 for targets scored. She additionally sank essentially the most tremendous photographs – 27 in all – with a forty five p.c success price.
“I assumed the two-point shot introduced one other stage of enjoyable to the sport, particularly for others watching. It doesn’t matter what the rating was, you might at all times catch up within the final 5 minutes of the quarter. Or in case you have been profitable, you couldn’t be complacent,” she says.
It was a break-out yr for Tui, who spent 4 comparatively quiet seasons with the Mystics and the Metal earlier than being given the chance to point out her athleticism, steadiness, accuracy and composure within the Magic taking pictures circle. Her facet completed fifth final season, regardless of some shut finishes because of Tui’s tremendous photographs.
After being included within the Silver Ferns squad for the primary time final yr, it stays her purpose to play within the black costume – regardless that Tui, of Tokelauan-Samoan heritage, performed for Samoa on the 2022 Oceania qualifiers (they did not make it by to the 2023 World Cup). She wore the pink costume for FastFerns within the FAST5 World Sequence in 2024.
Tui is aware of about taking alternatives with each fingers. In 2020, she got here straight from the feeder Nationwide Netball League – after serving to Central Manawa to back-to-back titles – to be the beginning purpose assault on the Mystics alongside 18-year-old purpose shoot Grace Nweke.
It was a baptism of fireplace – her first yr out of St Mary’s School in Wellington whereas learning at a Bible school in Auckland. However she hopes different younger gamers take their probability to shine in a premiership that’s misplaced eight of its Ferns to the Australian league.
Tui admits she misses her household in Wainuiomata. “Each time we go residence for our breaks, it’s at all times laborious to say goodbye. One factor I really like about being again house is sharing a room with my sister,” she says.
She is aware of it’s time to begin laying down a brand new life past netball. “I do know that I might love to assist individuals in a roundabout way, however I don’t understand how but. I simply have to cease doubting myself,” she says.
Dawson believes Tui will discover her calling with the assistance of the sport. “It’s one of many strengths of netball,” she says. “Serving to girls develop off the court docket as a lot as on it.”
The 2026 ANZ Premiership begins on April 11, with all video games performed over weekends – two on Saturday, one on Sunday – and broadcast reside and free-to-air on TVNZ+ and TVNZ 2.
