Lili Tokaduadua was only 15 when she left her family in Fiji to pursue her netball dream in New Zealand.
She’d been playing the sport for 10 years and was offered a netball scholarship at Auckland’s Howick College.
Now, in her first year out of high school, the 19-year-old defender is playing for the Stars, with and against the country’s best netballers in the ANZ Premiership.
“Missing my family, that was hard, not seeing them every day,” says Tokaduadua, the third of four children.
“But I managed, I grew up and I got used to not seeing them every day. There are so many opportunities here in New Zealand, so netball was fun, especially the people – that kept me going, the people I met.”
Tokaduadua is especially thankful for the Sotutu family, who she stayed with for four years while she made her way through high school.
The mum of the Sotutu family, Adelita, is the director of sport at Howick College, and the dad, Waisake, is a sports coordinator and rugby programme manager at the school. Waisake also played rugby for Fiji and Auckland.
Their son, Hoskins, plays for the Blues and the All Blacks, and their daughter, Teuila, is also a promising netballer, who made the New Zealand U21 squad in 2020.
“I lived with an amazing family…they’re very very generous, they’ve accepted me,” Tokaduadua says. “They’re a really big part of my netball journey.”
As well as supporting her netball career, Waisake noticed Tokaduadua was also good at rugby, and encouraged her to join the school’s team and the Marist club where he coached.
She also came from a big volleyball family, so she played that in Fiji and at Howick College, too. Volleyball has now taken a backseat, but Tokaduadua still plays rugby when she can.
“When summer comes, there’s sevens so I’m excited for sevens,” she says.
Tokaduadua was a shooter throughout her netball career, only making the full switch to defence a few years ago.
“When my team would be winning by heaps of goals, I’d just play goal keep for fun,” she laughs, remembering her time playing as a shooter in Fiji.
You can hear the excitement in her voice when she talks about what she enjoys about playing defence.
“I just love hunting, going out for the ball and getting intercepts, and I think I’m a good reader of the game,” she says. “I think it’s less pressure than playing goal shoot and putting the ball through the hoop.”
Tokaduadua is on the ANZ Premiership leaderboard for deflections with 13, behind a handful of Silver Ferns.
She received her first ANZ Premiership contract this year after playing with the Northern Comets in the National Netball League last year, in her last year at high school. The Comets made the grand final, losing by just two goals to Central Manawa.
“That was a big step up from secondary school, but it was really cool, learning from the older players in the team as well,” she says.
When she got the call from Stars coach Kiri Wills last year offering her a full contract for this season, Tokaduadua almost wanted to ask, “Are you sure?”, convinced she might have meant as a training partner.
“That was so unreal, I still remember everything,” she says. She was in her accounting class, and told Wills she was free next period for a call. Tokaduadua’s joy from the news still buzzes in her voice recalling the moment.
“I just couldn’t believe it, like I was crying after. I was…ahhh I don’t know, it was so crazy!” she laughs.
She called her mum straight away, who months later flew over from Fiji to watch her daughter make her ANZ Premiership debut.
“It was really cool getting on and playing in front of her,” Tokaduadua says.
But the whole experience was nerve-wracking for the teen. “I was so nervous, oh my gosh, my hands were shaking,” she recalls.
“Smithy [assistant coach Paula Smith] chucked me the goal keep bib, and then I was sitting down and Amorangi [Malesala] says like ‘Sis you need to stand up!’ and I was like ‘Ohhh okay’,” Tokaduadua laughs.
She won the player of the match award on her debut, only playing 33 minutes but finishing with four gains and seven deflections.
It’s a big step up to elite level netball, but one she’s cherishing.
“Trainings are hard but they’ve also grown me to be able to perform at this level. It’s tough, the intensity is very high, but it’s been good,” Tokaduadua says.
“And the Stars environment, it’s a family environment, everyone’s really welcoming. They want to support you, they want to help you.”
Tokaduadua now lives with teammate Maia Wilson during the week, who’s able to give her rides to training while she works towards getting her restricted licence.
Her favourite part of the experience so far is simply learning.
The Stars, who have yet to win a game this season, have three current Silver Ferns squad members in their team, and a few players who have spent several years in the ANZ Premiership or in the Silver Ferns development squad.
“Just learning from everyone, the more I can in the best way I can, I’m really excited for my netball journey, and if I can share some experience from the Stars with the other teams I go into,” she says.
Tokaduadua is a member of the New Zealand U21 team, alongside fellow Stars players Summer Temu and Khanye’-Lii Munro-Nonoa.
They’ll be looking towards the Netball World Youth Cup in Gibraltar next year, as New Zealand try to defend the title they won in 2017 (the 2021 edition in Fiji was cancelled due to Covid).
But for now, Tokaduadua is simply soaking up the experience of being a Star.
