Cathrine Tuivaiti (née Latu; born 25 October 1986 in West Auckland,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

) is a New Zealand

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

n, Samoan, and

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

descent.

Career

Early career

Cathrine Tuivaiti was a member of the New Zealand Secondary Schools and New Zealand U21 teams, and debuted in the

National Bank Cup The National Bank Cup was the pre-eminent national netball competition in New Zealand between 1998 and 2007. From 2008, it was replaced by the ANZ Championship. Format In the rounds, each team played every other team once, then the top four teams ...

with the

Northern Force Northern Force are a former New Zealand netball team based in North Harbour, North Shore, Auckland Region. As a result, they were also known as either North Harbour Force or North Shore Force. Between 1998 and 2007, Force played in the Coc ...

in 2005. She continued with the team for a further two years, and remained in Auckland with the start of the

ANZ Championship The ANZ Championship, also known as the Trans-Tasman Netball League, is a former netball league featuring teams from both Australia and New Zealand. Between 2008 and 2016, it was the top-level league in both countries. The competition was owned ...

in 2008, playing for the new

Northern Mystics Northern Mystics are a New Zealand netball team based in Auckland. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Northern in the ANZ Premiership. Netball Northern is the governing body t ...

franchise.

Northern Mystics

Playing for

as a teenager attracted the attention of people with Samoan netball contacts and, despite having little Samoan ancestry, Tuivaiti was invited to play at international level for Samoa, including playing for them in the 2007 Netball World Championships in Auckland. She also played in a World VII team in two tests series against New Zealand and Australia in 2009. The Northern Mystics announced broad changes to their playing lineup for 2009 after a lacklustre first season in the ANZ Championship. Fijian international and former Silver Fern

Vilimaina Davu Vilimaina Davu (born 15 January 1977 in Nadi, Fiji) is a Fijian and New Zealand netball player, who has represented both countries in international netball as a goal keeper. Netball career On the netball court she was a veteran of more than 10 ...

was retained, while English shooter

Pamela Cookey Pamela Asibie Cookey (born 2 September 1984 in Birmingham, West Midlands) is a former English netball player, usually posted to goal attack (GA). Club career In domestic netball, Cookey has played with Team Bath in the Netball Superleague sinc ...

was also brought in as an import player. Tuivaiti was able to stay with the Mystics when

Netball New Zealand Netball New Zealand is the national body which oversees, promotes and manages netball in New Zealand, including the Silver Ferns. In 2019, 137,713 players were registered with Netball New Zealand, the governing body for organised netball in the co ...

gave her an exemption from being a third 'international' — and thus supposedly-'ineligible'-to-play for the Mystics — after she announced she would undertake a required four-year, international-representative stand-down period in order to be eligible for the

Silver Ferns The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns, represent New Zealand in international netball. The team take their nickname from the Silver Tree Fern (''Cyathea dealbata''), which is National symbols of New Zealand, ...

after 2011. Tuivaiti remained with the Northern Mystics in 2010 and 2011, partnering in the shooting circle with Maria Tutaia. After completing her four-year stand down period, Tuivaiti was selected in the Silver Ferns Team in September 2011, and debuted against England in October. New International rules precluded her playing for different countries in consecutive World Netball Championships so she was ineligible for 2011. Tuivaiti signed with the Northern Mystics again for the 2012 season and was still signed with the SkyCity Mystics when she played her 100th NZ Championship?match in mid-April 2015, against the Haier Pulse.

Silver Ferns

Tuivaiti was dropped from the Silver Ferns for the 2015 World Championships and due to it missed on the

2015 Constellation Cup The 2015 Constellation Cup was the 6th Constellation Cup series played between Australia and New Zealand. The series, also known as the New World Netball Series, featured four netball test matches, played in October 2015. The Australia team wa ...

, but was recalled to the 2016 squad.

Central Pulse and Adelaide Thunderbirds

Tuivaiti played for the Central Pulse for the 2017 season then signed to play for

Adelaide Thunderbirds Adelaide Thunderbirds are an Australian netball team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship and between 1997 and 2007, they played in ...

in 2018. However, she sustained an ACL injury two days later, ruling her out for most of the 2018 Australian Super League season. She made her debut for the side in the 10th Round against the Collingwood Magpies. Tuivaiti announced in a Facebook post on 31 December 2018 that she had had a second knee surgery. For the 2019 season, Cathrine will be playing for the UWS Sirens competing in the UK wide Vitality

Netball Superleague The Netball Super League is a top level netball league featuring teams from the United Kingdom. The league is organised by England Netball but features teams based in England, Wales and Scotland. The league was commenced playing at the 2005–06 ...

. She will also train with, and help prepare, the Gail Parata-led Scottish national team ahead of the

2019 Netball World Cup The 2019 Netball World Cup (also known as the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the INF Netball World Cup. It was held from 12–21 July 2019 at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, England with matche ...

to be held in Liverpool, England, in July. On 21 March 2019, she announced she was pregnant with her first child, ending her season with the Sirens and would be returning to New Zealand.

Controversy

In 2017, she accused NNZ of miscommunication and told the

Radio Sport Radio Sport (previously Sports Roundup) was a New Zealand sports radio radio network, network and the talk radio, talkback sister network of Newstalk ZB. It held commentary rights for most cricket matches, international and domestic rugby uni ...

that

What disappoints the hell out of me is that I've had no communication. I've had no reason, to read that there were some off-court issues makes me out to be a bad guy. Yes, I have a foul mouth, but I'm a good person and I do as much as I can for my team-mates and for my country, of late. I don't really know what that's about, but I'm not happy about it. It's news to me and it really pisses me off the most.

References

External links

2016 Cathrine Tuivaiti Northern Mystics profile2016 ANZ Championship profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latu, Cathrine 1986 births Living people Adelaide Thunderbirds players ANZ Championship players Australian Netball League players Commonwealth Games medallists in netball Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Netball players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Netball Superleague players New Zealand expatriate netball people in Australia New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Scotland New Zealand Māori netball players New Zealand netball players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent Northern Force players Northern Mystics players People educated at Massey High School Samoan netball players Sirens Netball players Southern Force (netball) players Sportspeople from the Auckland Region Central Pulse players New Zealand international Fast5 players Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games