Rūātoki’s Charlice Bryce is a step closer to reaching her childhood dream – wearing the black dress of New Zealand.

The supremely talented netballer has been selected in the Julie Seymour under-21 team to face Australia and England in Canberra from January 16 to 23.

Bryce, who is part of the Waikato National League team, wasn’t selected for the training camps initially but was asked to come along and put her best foot forward.

Having started her playing career 13 years ago in the centre bib, Bryce, 19, was soon moved to the defensive end at high school where she excelled.

Making the New Zealand team for the upcoming tour was a huge honour.

“To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to get selected, as I was only invited to a few of the camps/trainings to get a taste of what the under-21 level is like.

“But when the squad was announced for the Australia Tour, I was surprised and also very grateful to see my name on the list.”

She was invited to attend an Auckland training by coaches Seymour and Te Aroha Keenan and then invited to the Ōtaki training camp, impressing enough to earn selection.

 “Honestly, I was quite surprised. Coming from being invited to a camp to train alongside the original under-21 team to then being selected in the team to tour is definitely a highlight.”  

At the start of the season, Bryce had making the under-21s on her radar.

“Under-21s was definitely a goal of mine heading into the 2024 National Netball League, but once I saw the original squad get named and my name wasn’t mentioned I felt like it was impossible to reach.”

She’s excited to be facing new competition in Australia.

“I’m definitely looking forward to coming up against the Australian and England teams as they are known to be quite challenging opponents, but then again, it will be a good opportunity to test our skillsets as a team and as individuals.

“Most of all, I am excited to soak it all up and gain more experience and knowledge from our coaches and players across the three teams.

“Australia is known to be quite fit, fast and nippy, so playing them at the Tri Series will be a great opportunity to test our match fitness. Same for England; we know they’ve got some height in their team also, so that’ll be another good challenge to come up against.”

It’s a sporting achievement that rates highly for Bryce, who was also a talented touch player while at Trident High School, having made a New Zealand age grade side.

“This is most definitely a netball highlight for me so far, especially as this is the first sporting opportunity/campaign where I’ll be travelling overseas.”

As always her parents have been a part of her success.

“They have been there every step of my sporting journey, so giving back to them will be my all-time goal. Alongside them will be my family, friends, past coaches, and the whole village from home who have helped me throughout my 19 years of life.

“Another drive will be seeing the amount of talent that our rangatahi have here in the Bay, whether it be netball, rugby, touch or other sports. The future of BOP is definitely looking bright.

“I have received and felt the support from every person I’ve crossed paths with, and I just want to make everyone I know proud.”

She rates her 2024 netball season as a successful one but admits there’s always oppportunity to do better.

“There’s always room for improvement, but with it being my first year playing the league it was cool to experience such a high level of netball, getting to meet heaps of new people, having very knowledgeable coaches and just being out there on court playing.”

Her efforts will not only have made Rūātoki proud, but continue the small rural town’s impressive run of producing top level sporting stars.

All going well, it won’t be too long before Bryce is marking up against fellow Eastern Bay netballers, shooting duo Monica Falkner and Khiarna Williams in the ANZ Premiership.

Bryce has also been selected in a Netball WBOP development tour team to head to Melbourne, Australia to participate in a tournament run by Netball Victoria on February 7-8.