Malawi mother just can't stop

Mary Waya was all smiles yesterday, despite her Malawi team's disappointing loss to New Zealand on Saturday night.
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At 39, Waya is one of the veterans at these world championships, but you would not have guessed that after her impressive showing against New Zealand.

Her team may have been outclassed 85-26, but Waya led the Malawi game from goal attack. Despite not fitting the traditional mould of a netballer at 1.62m and 89kg, she proved she could run all night if needed.

This mother of two works as a technician in Malawi, and fits in regular training in the evenings.

"I've got two boys - one is 11 and the other is seven - so as a mother I'm busy with the kids but I make the time. I have time to go to work, time to be with my kids and time to train," she said.

"(My family) are very supportive, which is good because it gives me more hours to do what I need to do."

It is Waya's love of the game which saw her return after the birth of her sons, and sees her keen to keep playing while she is still fit enough to keep up.

"I represented Malawi in 1995 and from there I've been in the team for many years. I'm very happy that I have come back because it keeps my body healthy, it's good for my health and good for my kids," she said.

But it's not only netball that keeps her busy. "I play basketball and I play tennis as well. In the off-season I go for basketball and I play tennis because my kids love tennis."

Netball is popular in Malawi, with Saturday night's game being shown live in the African country.

Waya's family were gathered around the television for the team's first world championships game since the 1999 tournament in Christchurch.

"They were watching from home, they phoned and said it was good but to myself, I didn't feel that I played like I could," she said.

However, Malawi are still confident for the rest of the tournament. They play Botswana today and Wales tomorrow, and are aiming to win both to book their place in the quarterfinals.

"It's a big challenge, but we will do our best so we can reach the quarterfinals," she said.

The Silver Ferns will play Wales today in the other Pool A match and will be hoping to build on their solid start against Malawi.

While it is tough to read much into the scoreline, the opening game gave coach Ruth Aitken a chance to experiment with her line-up.

Leana de Bruin came on in goal keep for the second half, providing a backup for Casey Williams, and in the final quarter Maria Tutaia and Jodi Te Huna were teamed together in the shooting circle, with Irene van Dyk relegated to the bench.

Sheryl Scanlan played goal defence for the full game, which suggests she is a genuine option for the position when the crunch games start later in the tournament, while Laura Langman showed no signs of spending the past six weeks recovering from a stress fracture in her foot.

The scoreline was one-sided, but Aitken admitted there was still plenty for her team to work on before a likely semifinal clash with Jamaica.

"We do still need to fine-tune a few things in terms of just letting that ball go, and we also probably need to look at a bit more width to our game. I thought we got a bit narrow on attack at times," she said.

New Zealand play Wales today at 4.10pm.