Shooting circle in Naoupu's sights

Southern Steel shooter Julianna Naoupu realises that 2010 has got to be the year she translates promise into performance.

The 20-year-old has been with Steel since the inception of the ANZ Championship and has had a sprinkling of opportunities in the world's toughest club netball competition. This season she looks set to see far more court time in the shooting circle, with Daneka Wipiiti still adjusting to the rigours of top-level netball after the recent birth of her first childKilani-Mae, and new recruit Jade Topia having spent much of preseason on the sidelines with a back injury.

Naoupu acknowledged that when she did get a chance to line up for Steel this season, she had to grasp it with both hands and impress Steel coach Robyn Broughton.

"Every year I'm quite nervous, but this year the pressure is on to step up," Naoupu said.

"All the girls out there want to get on court and have the two spots in the shooting circle. Everyone's going hard so I've got to push for that this year."

Naoupu has enjoyed a strong preseason for Steel, with the youngster relishing the extra minutes she has seen and the chance to test herself against some of the best defenders in the competition.

She said she was pretty happy with the way she had gone during Steel's rigorous preseason campaign, but stressed that the ANZ Champion-ship would be another step up in intensity.

Steel look to be the fittest they have ever been in the leadup to the new season under new strength and conditioning trainer Stephen Hill-Haas.

Naoupu admitted her fitness had improved immensely since Hill-Haas' arrival and felt that would help her in this year's ANZ Championship.

"At the start of this year I wasn't in great shape, but as the past months have gone by I've got a lot fitter and stronger.

"I'm more determined to get out there and do things."

The Christchurch-raised Naoupu is a relative latecomer to netball, picking up the sport in only her first year at Christchurch Girls' High School after concentrating on touch rugby and volleyball at primary school.

She comes from a strong sporting family with her father a former rugby league player for the Canterbury Bulls, and elder brother George having played NPC and Super 14 rugby before heading to Ireland this season to play for Connacht.

Naoupu and Steel finish their preseason against Canterbury Tactix and the Otago Lois Muir Challenge side in Dunedin on Saturday.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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