BIANCA VAN DYK, daughter of Silver Fern Irene van Dyk, has been selected for Netball New Zealand’s elite development camp in December.
Bianca’s dream is to play in the ANZ Championship one day and then make the Silver Ferns.
She says she has become used to being referred to as “Irene’s daughter”.
“People come along to the games and say, ‘oh, my goodness, that’s Irene’s daughter’ or ‘she is going to be just like Irene’,” Bianca said.
“It’s not the most enjoyable thing, because I want to turn around and say, ‘I’m Bianca, not Irene’.
“I feel like there is a lot of expectation on me because of how successful Mum was and is, but I don’t feel pressured to play netball from Mum. She just wants me to do whatever makes me happy, and netball does that.
“Of course I would love to be as amazing as Mum, but some people need to remember I’m only 15, I’m not perfect and I do make mistakes.”
The Central Pulse recently signed Irene from the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic.
Irene says she is incredibly proud of Bianca, but is not putting any pressure on her.
“As a parent, you always want your children to be the best they can be, regardless of sport, but I am incredibly proud of Bianca. I just hope she takes every challenge coming her way.
“As long as she enjoys whatever she is doing, I am happy, and as long as she does the best she is capable of.”
Netball NZ’s elite development camp is being held at St Peter’s School in Cambridge and will be attended by 60 of the country’s leading young players and 15 top umpires chosen from the five netball zones.
At camp, there will be 19 players and two umpires from the central zone area, which covers Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu and Taranaki.
Netball Central Zone chief executive Carolyn Young is proud of the girls’ achievement.
“To have such a high number of our girls involved in the camp is a credit to all the hard work that is being achieved in our schools, clubs, and netball centres across the central zone,” says Ms Young.
“The camp will be an opportunity for our girls to represent the zone amongst the very best emerging netball talent in the country.”