Pulse on the rise

This is the Cent­ral Pulse’s year.

That is admit­tedly a bold and pos­sibly fool­hardy thing to say about any Wel­ling­ton-based sport­ing fran­chise, but this Cent­ral Pulse sea­son does have a fair bit of optim­ism about it.

Since the incep­tion of the ANZ Cham­pi­on­ship, the going has been tough. At times the Pulse were the laugh­ing stock of the com­pet­i­tion, and any win could be con­sidered the high­light of the sea­son. Gradu­ally this has turned around. Since the appoint­ment of Robyn Broughton and Kat­rina Grant as coach and cap­tain, respect­ively, in 2012, there has been clear improve­ment on the court, and an increas­ingly optim­ist­ic vibe off it (includ­ing a new nam­ing rights spon­sor in Mojo coffee).

Adding to this is the announce­ment of a mod­i­fied tour­na­ment struc­ture for 2015. The new format, which is sim­il­ar to that cur­rently used in Super Rugby, sees the Aus­trali­an and New Zea­l­and teams split into two con­fer­ences. A guar­an­teed three teams from these con­fer­ences will then pro­gress through to a restruc­tured finals series. The real­ity is that fin­ish­ing in the top three New Zea­l­and sides is demon­strably easi­er than fin­ish­ing in the top four in a com­bined table.

Some people have cri­ti­cised this format, arguing that it does not guar­an­tee that the six best teams make the play-offs, and that con­fer­ence sys­tems should be con­fined to US com­pet­i­tions. But if any fran­chise bene­fits from the change, it is the Cent­ral Pulse.

This is our year. The year when the former cel­lar dwell­ers make it onto the big stage. The his­tory of the fran­chise is partly why Wel­ling­to­ni­ans are embra­cing the steady improve­ment. We are used to accept­ing dis­ap­point­ment with self-deprec­at­ing humour and we cher­ish the good times.

That is why the Pulse is con­nect­ing with its fan base. This is not the over-com­mer­cial­ised face of mod­ern sport — we see the play­ers out and about, they have oth­er jobs, and we can identi­fy with them.

Chil­dren under 16 make up 22 per­cent of sea­son tick­et-hold­ers, which is a par­tic­u­larly refresh­ing stat­ist­ic in an era when pro­fes­sion­al sport is viewed as increas­ingly dis­con­nec­ted from those play­ing at grass­roots level.

A quick look through the play­ing roster high­lights the diversity with­in the squad. Ama Agbeze, the former Eng­land inter­na­tion­al, is a qual­i­fied law­yer. Eli­as Shad­rock works at the ASB Sports Centre. Whit­ney Soun­ess is at uni­ver­sity, and is seen as a star of the future. Han­nah Poff returns to net­ball after a stint play­ing rugby sev­ens. These are real people with diverse back stor­ies. Fans can relate to that.

In addi­tion, the teams includes some big names in net­ball. Sil­ver Fern Kat­rina Grant is the cap­tain, and Joline Henry, anoth­er mem­ber of the nation­al squad, is the vice cap­tain. These two are both enter­ing their fourth sea­son for the Pulse fran­chise and form the back­bone of the side.

The inter­na­tion­al exper­i­ence does not end there though. Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rick­it is anoth­er from the class of 2012, and Liana Leota, who played for the Pulse five weeks after giv­ing birth last sea­son, is now a reg­u­lar in the mid-court.

The new sign­ings strengthen the squad fur­ther. Former Queenslander Ameli­aranne Wells com­pletes her nation­al­ity switch, and Jodi Brown, the 42-test vet­er­an, joins the squad, adding even more experience.

Then there is the farewell sea­son for Irene Van Dyk. We have for­giv­en her for those years play­ing in Hamilton, and this is the last chance to see argu­ably the world’s best net­baller in action.

That all adds up to an excit­ing year ahead. As the tagline for the 2015 sea­son says, “All Charged Up”.

The ANZ Cham­pi­on­ship starts on 28 Feb­ru­ary and the Mojo Pulse’s first home game is on 8 March at Te Rauparaha Arena in Pori­rua against the Queens­land Fire­birds. Mem­ber­ships are on sale now from pulse.org.nz.