Full circle for De Bruin as Stars enter year 10

Leana de Bruin has achieved a lot in her netball career.

104 international appearances for New Zealand, 34 caps for South Africa and hundreds of domestic netball matches.

But one thing de Bruin is particularly proud of is being the first amongst a galaxy of 52 players to represent the Stars in the ANZ Premiership since 2017.

The Stars will celebrate their 10th season in the ANZ Premiership this year, with de Bruin on board for a second year as the assistant coach of the current Stars unit.

It is very much a full circle moment for de Bruin, having been the captain in their inaugural campaign.

“Being the first captain is quite a privilege and the cool thing is I was selected by the team, so I must’ve done something right!” de Bruin said.

“I just remember being quite proud, because I grew up in a small place in South Africa and to come to a different country and get into a leadership position in an area like South Auckland which had a similar feeling of being a smaller fish in a big tank, was really cool, because it brings something different out of you.”

Season one was a baptism of fire for the new kids on the block, as the Stars won just one of their 10 regular season games.

With home games played out of Manukau’s Vodafone Events Centre and a number of new faces and combinations to form, de Bruin remembers it being a challenging, but rewarding introduction to the competition.

“I think what was different to other environments is we had limited resources. We didn’t have big name sponsors who had backed us for years and a lot of us didn’t know what exactly we were getting into, but that made us stronger and made us want to perform and play better. We didn’t want that as an excuse and wanted to play as hard as everyone else.” de Bruin reminisced.

"We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs and yes, the results didn’t always go our way, but sometimes it isn’t about the results, it’s more about making sure you bring your A game as an individual.”

Fast forward to year 10 and a number of familiar faces have remained close to de Bruin. Current head coach Temepara Bailey was assistant coach in 2017 and even donned the playing bib for the 2019 season, where the Stars made their first grand final appearance.

Now the pair have the task of trying to guide the Stars to their first ANZ Premiership title as coaches.

“Bubby and I have been great mates for a long time and I remember her being really friendly when I came from South Africa and was really shy. She makes you feel really comfortable and I liked that she was an assistant coach more on the defensive end". de Bruin explained.

“Her and I played a long time together, so setting up defensive structures with her was really good and she’s very good at explaining things to people. It’s also amazing that when she got the head coaching role with the Stars she wanted me to be her assistant coach. It’s quite an honour to go full circle, but we have a lot of history which makes us a strong combination.”
 
Current Stars defender and vice-captain Kate Burley made her Stars debut in their 2017 season-opener against the Steel, sharing the court with de Bruin as a fresh-faced 19-year-old.

de Bruin admits she may have been a bit tough on her younger teammate at the start of their relationship.

“Kate was a baby and I made her cry quite a bit. I remember taking her for coffee and being like “right, what do you need from me?” because obviously it wasn’t working, because she was so scared of me.” De Bruin laughed.

"She taught me you need to get to know the player to get the best out of them, even if it annoyed me at the time, it made me a good captain and helped me a lot.” de Bruin added.

“Looking at Kate now, she’s a chatterbox and I do laugh sometimes thinking “was I that vocal?” It’s cool to see how much she’s grown and we can laugh about those early years now, but I think it helped us both grow.”

Reflecting on the past nine seasons, de Bruin has one moment that stands out the most.

“The best for me was 2019 when we made our first grand final. I remember going down to Invercargill to face the Steel in the elimination final and nobody gave us any chance of winning and we came off that court and we did it and it meant so much for everyone. It was a tough year; there were so many injuries and adversity we had to go through to get to that point. Obviously, it would’ve been awesome to win the final, but that game in Invercargill was one of the best moments for the team.”

Having been there from day one and seeing the growth of the Stars as a franchise, de Bruin is delighted with the footprint the team has made on the competition and South Auckland community.

“The team’s a lot more settled. We’re lucky to have Pulman Arena as a home base and Auckland Netball Centre too. The community around us is great and we love getting out there and when people come to our games, they feel a part of it and when it’s your own team, people can look at us and go hey those guys represent us!”

And as for what de Bruin feels defines the Stars ahead of season 10?

“I definitely think the passion for people. There’s genuine care in this team that you can feel. When people come into this environment from other teams, they say they wanted to come here because of that". De Bruin said.

"There’s a real love and big heart. We want the girls to be good people and happy first, before anything on court.”