‘SHE MADE YOU FEEL SPECIAL’
Iwas 16 when I met T at a netball camp in Palmerston North, where I was admiring this cool chick with great legs from afar. By 2000, we were Silver Ferns teammates and by 2003, we were roomies and world champions.
T was the ultimate teammate – competitive, supportive and the life of the party. On netball tours, Tania was always the one to lead you astray. She would dance on all the tabletops, usually to “Sweet Caroline”. Once we ended up on the front page of the newspaper thanks to her late-night antics!
When I first moved to Auckland, I ended up living only a few blocks from T, Duane and the kids. I didn’t know many people, but as was her way, she took me under her wing. It quickly became obvious T was a legend on the North Shore.
Go for a run with T and people would be beeping and waving. Even the man from the petrol station knew her well due to her frequent emergency pit stops while running around the lake. She had more friends than anyone I have ever met, yet she had this amazing ability to make you feel special. When she gave you her time, you felt blessed and fed off her boundless energy.
The last time I saw her was the Tuesday before the touch game. I turned up to our regular exercise date – running up and down the stairs at the local park. I was carrying an injury so shouldn’t have been attempting the stairs and T politely told me exactly that! But I had FOMO (fear of missing out) – no-one wanted to miss an opportunity to spend time with T. She had a magnetism that drew you to her and you were ensured a belly laugh on every occasion.
Even though she was the busiest person in the world, Tania always made time for her friends. She was the first person to call in with a plate of fudge if you were having a rough week and she’d change her hectic schedule to make a birthday dinner.
She did so much in her life, but her lasting legacy will be the sort of mum she was. If her kids wanted to play a sport or attend an event, she would make it happen. They’d have swimming in the mornings, touch rugby after school, then basketball, surf lifesaving ... You name it, they did it.
She coached all her kids’ sports, but what I loved the most was that she often played in teams alongside her kids too. T did not sit back and just watch – she was out there surfing, shooting hoops and mountain biking with her family. She was an inspiration.
T’s love of Duane was plain to see. He was her bestie. That Duane and T’s family allowed so many of us to share in T’s last few precious days was selfless and humbling.
I missed the touch game that night and my heart sank when I got the call to say T had been taken away by ambulance. I was just hoping that it wasn’t as bad as they thought. It was our T, after all – she was so tough!
Things just won’t be the same without T-Bag. She was one of life’s special people and the hole she leaves is immeasurable. It’s hard to imagine life without the soul of the party.