Leilani Read (1973—1999) was a netball player who played nine times for the New Zealand national netball team and also for the

Samoa national netball team The Samoa national netball team or ''Tifa Moana'' represent Samoa in international netball tests and competitions. The team are coached by Marcia Hardcastle and are co-captained by Opheira Harder-Karatau and Julianna Naoupu. As of 21 July 2019, Sam ...

. Read suffered from a rare blood disorder and died from a brain haemorrhage at the age of 25.

Career

Leilani Elizabeth Taufailematagi Read, of Samoan descent, came from

Porirua Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...

in the Wellington Region of the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

of New Zealand. She was born on 31 August 1973 and attended Wellington Girls' College from 1987 to 1991. She played netball for Wellington as a Goal shooter (GS) or Goal attack (GA), and was chosen in 1993 to play for the ''Silver Ferns'', New Zealand's national team, making her debut in a match against Namibia held at Palmerston North, New Zealand on 15 May. She was in the New Zealand team that won a silver medal at the

1993 World Games The 1993 World Games ( nl, 1993 Wereldspelen), the fourth World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in The Hague, Netherlands. Titles 155 titles were awarded in 23 sports (not including invitational sports — aikido, equestrian ...

, in The Hague, Netherlands. Dropped in 1994, she decided to play for Samoa in the

1995 Netball World Championships The 1995 World Netball Championships was the ninth edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Birmingham, England and featured a record 27 teams. South Africa returned to competiti ...

, which were held in Birmingham, England, where Samoa finished ninth out of 27 teams, topping its qualifying group. She rejoined the Silver Ferns in 1996. Known for her cheerful and "bubbly" personality, Read was a high school teacher. She was due to play again for Samoa in the

1999 World Netball Championships The 1999 World Netball Championships (also known as the Vodafone World Netball Championships for sponsorship reasons) was the tenth edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Christchu ...

in Christchurch, New Zealand, but in August 1999 she suffered a brain haemorrhage that was caused by a rare blood disorder and died on 17 August. She was buried at the Whenua Tapu Cemetery at

Pukerua Bay Pukerua Bay is a small seaside suburb at the southern end of the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand. In local government terms it is the northernmost suburb of Porirua City, in the Wellington Region. It is 12 km north of the Porirua City Centre on ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Leilani 1973 births 1999 deaths New Zealand international netball players Samoan netball players New Zealand schoolteachers New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Burials at Whenua Tapu Cemetery Netball players from Porirua Netball players at the 1993 World Games 1995 World Netball Championships players People educated at Wellington Girls' College World Games silver medalists for New Zealand World Games medalists in netball Medalists at the 1993 World Games