Nicole Drummond’s sporting world was turned upside-down last week when the 19 year old was picked as a late inclusion in the New Zealand mixed touch team, which is off to the world cup in April.
Until last Tuesday the former Nelson College for Girls star was eyeing up a strong performance with her Tasman team at touch nationals in March, now that’s just a warm-up.
She admits the call-up was a heck of a shock and she was “shaking the whole time” when the coach called her to say she had made the team.
Nicole – who now attends Auckland University – has been in New Zealand aged group teams but says a call-up to a senior team was unexpected. “It’s always been a goal but I didn’t think it was happen for me this early.”
The mens, womens and mixed teams that will compete at the world cup in Coffs Harbour, Australia, have been training together for a year, but a late withdrawal made space for Nicole. “Someone withdrew for personal reasons and after that they looked at the tapes from the trans-Tasman tournament last year and the coach didn’t even know who I was but he selected me off that tape.”
It’s the second time in a week that a Drummond has been in the right place at the right time. On Friday night, her brother Mitchell made his starting debut for the Crusaders after halfback Willie Heinz broke his leg in pre-season.
Nicole says both were excited about the opportunities. “We’ve played touch together since we were at Nayland College together, so we’re pretty close and it’s been cool to watch each other’s progress.”
Nicole says Auckland asked her to play for them at nationals but she was keen to represent Tasman and try to win the mixed grade. “We’ve got a really strong team and I wanted to stay loyal to Nelson.”
