Sonya Hardcastle
Encyclopedia
Sonya Hardcastle is a New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
former international netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
player.
An attacking midcourt player, Hardcastle was first selected for the New Zealand national netball team, the Silver Ferns, in 1992. She sustained a back injury the following year, which kept her out of the 1993 World Games
World Games 1993
The fourth World Games were held in 1993 in The Hague, part of the Netherlands.- Medal Table :-External links:* *...
. Outside of netball, Hardcastle was stalked several times during her early international career. After taking time out to focus on studies, Hardcastle rejoined the Silver Ferns in 1997, and went on to win silver medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
1998 Commonwealth Games
The 1998 XVI Commonwealth Games were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 11 September to 21 September 1998 making it the first Asian country to act as host and the last Commonwealth Games for the 20th century. A record 70 nations supplied 3638 athletes...
and 1999 Netball World Championships
1999 Netball World Championships
The 1999 World Netball Championships was the tenth staging of the World Netball Championships, the premier tournament in international netball, held every four years. The 1999 tournament was held in Christchurch, New Zealand and was contested by 24 teams. All matches were held at the Westpac...
.
With the start of the Coca-Cola Cup (later the National Bank Cup
National Bank Cup
The National Bank Cup was the pre-eminent national netball competition in New Zealand between 1998 and 2007. From 2008, it was replaced by the ANZ Championship.-Format:...
) in 1998, Hardcastle signed with the Northern Force
Northern Force
The Northern Force were the northern-most team in Netball New Zealand's former premier competition - the National Bank Cup. For the 2008 ANZ Championship the Force merged with the Auckland Diamonds to create the Northern Mystics....
; having moved to live in Invercargill, she also started playing provincial netball for Southland. She announced her retirement from all forms of netball after 1999, although she played again with the Northern Force in 2001; she also made a surprise return to play with North Harbour in the 2008 provincial netball season.
Her sisters Nadine and Rochelle also played alongside Sonya in domestic netball, with Rochelle joining her in the Northern Force. Her mother is also a coach with Netball North Harbour.