Tough times produce best memories for Steel legend Selby-Rickit
Heading into her 18th season of the game she still loves dearly, Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit has won plenty in netball. A World Youth Cup, FastNet international titles, a minor premiership and two titles in the ANZ Premiership with the Southern Steel amongst a quality body of work. But Selby-Rickit’s proudest moment was when the Steel literally had to scrape themselves together and rescue their season from a potentially campaign-ending van crash in 2017.
Selby-Rickit: “It was a great moment that I’ll never forget.”
Photo courtesy of Michael Bradley Photography
Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit was in Ōtaki on a course in 2017 when someone asked her if her team was okay. They showed her a Stuff article with a photo of the Steel team van on its side in Christchurch.
Normally that van would have been full of squad members and team bags and Selby-Rickit would have been driving, even though she rates herself as pretty average behind the wheel. By some minor miracle, several players were away on other duties and there were only six in the van when it was hit and overturned by another vehicle at a Fendalton intersection.
A man walking to a nearby supermarket witnessed the accident and later told the NZ Herald he couldn’t believe no one had died as a result.
Amongst the injured players was Te Huinga’s sister Te Paea and the team’s talismanic captain Wendy Frew, who required leg and elbow surgery.
What followed is part of southern sporting lore. The Steel were forced to take on the Tactix days later without four of their best players, drafting in several youngsters from the franchise’s development side. Trailing for most of the game, they came through to win and maintain their unbeaten season, later taking out the 2017 grand final against the Pulse.
“When people ask you what you are most proud of, they are expecting you to talk about the titles, but that’s not necessarily it,” Selby-Rickit says.
“When we played in Christchurch after the van crash, that was a proud moment. Our build up had been terrible - we had a couple of people in hospital, four or five not being able to play from the starting team. We had maybe six Beko players come in on the day of the game.”
From being a team which was on a fast track to winning the inaugural season of the ANZ Premiership, everything was different.
“I remember there were no Cruskits left, there was someone sitting in my spot in the changing room. These are not big things but I remember thinking it was so different and it was such a stressful lead up.
“There was a lot of emotion…I’m not much of a crier and I was watching people cry just before we went out on court.
“These poor Beko players were probably wondering what was happening with all these top players crying. We didn’t think we needed that win, but later we realised just how much it meant to everyone. To remain unbeaten, the contribution from the Beko players to step up, from some of the girls who were in the crash. Players like Gina (Crampton) who turned around and played, I take my hat off to them because I don’t think I could have done it. It was a great moment that I’ll never forget.”
We’ve watched Selby-Rickit grow up on the netball court. From the prodigiously-talented 14-year-old first selected in the New Zealand under 21 team, to the shy 16-year-old who left her close-knit community behind in Ōtaki to go to school and play netball at the bottom of the country. Nearly two decades later it's a journey she struggles to comprehend.
“I still don’t even understand how that happened, now that I think about it. I’d played a season with the Flyers beforehand but not much had changed, I just had training on a Tuesday night and played on a Friday or Saturday.
“Now that I think about it, it was a bit crazy. I came down here to a completely different environment, because my environment in Ōtaki was quite sheltered. I had family all around me, the same friends from the time I was one. I obviously enjoyed it because I’ve spent so much time here. When I look back it was crazy and I can’t believe I did it.”
Selby-Rickit found a second home in Invercargill. Under Verdon College and Steel coach Robyn Broughton. Alongside Wendy Frew, the wing defence who took her under her wing.
What don’t we know about the quiet assassin who can tear a game apart with her vision and timing on defence?
Selby-Rickit is as understated off the court as she is on it. She likes to watch movies. The thought of skydiving freaks her out. She’s not sure she’d describe herself as ‘useless’ exactly, but….
“I’m just not onto it. It’s probably why I lived with Wendy for so long, she is so onto it, she’s so structured. I’m the opposite of that. I try to be a good teammate, nice to people. I don’t really like screaming at people. I like to work through it with them. Just because you ‘know’ something it doesn’t mean it’s right.”
And that gift she has? The one where she can see the game unfolding before her like Origami in reverse, the pressure building, the opportunity suddenly there in front of her and the crescendo of a clean intercept that raises the rafters at ILT Stadium Southland?
“It might seem like that but our crowd can see it too because they are really good netball watchers. It’s like the ending of something else that has happened, a buildup of everyone applying the pressure. The person who gets the intercept looks the best, but you know that you were just on the end of something bigger that happened in front of you.”
Is she unflappable?
“I do get flustered, but the higher the stress of the moment, the more I like it as a defender. It just gives me a rush. When I used to shoot I used to get really stressed and it would show on my face. Even if I had a good shooting game I’d still walk off with the shakes from being nervous. As a defender it is so exciting when it’s close, knowing you just need one turnover to change the game. I’d rather be up by 20 and cruising along, but those moments are what keep me playing.”
And with any luck, playing long enough to add another title to the Steel story.
