Commonwealth Games: Basketballer and midwife Azure Anderson ready to deliver

Suzanne McFadden for LockerRoom

Azure Anderson is always happy to pose for a selfie after a day’s work. Most days, it’s not because she’s a basketball star – but because she’s just helped bring a baby into the world.

The North Shore Hospital midwife lives a remarkable double life, switching between scrubs and a black singlet as one of New Zealand’s leading 3x3 basketballers.

This month she’ll take leave from delivering babies into the world to make her Commonwealth Games debut in Glasgow.

The 29-year-old has never had to toss up between her two careers. “I can’t do one without the other,” she says.

Anderson inherited her love of sport from her father and her passion for midwifery from her mother.

Her dad, Vinnie, played rugby league for the Kiwis, the Warriors and professional clubs in England and France. She grew up between the three countries.

Her mum, Seini, has always been a role model to her. Anderson’s parents were both teenagers when she was born.

“Mum had five kids by the time she was my age. I have a real soft spot for teen mums,” she says.

“After having two kids as a teen, she had a whole different experience when my brother was born seven years later. She just raved about the midwife – and that always interested me.

“As the eldest of 20 grandkids on both sides of my family, I’ve been around a lot of babies too.”

There are long days – training with the Kāhu during the Tauihi league season before starting a night shift at the hospital at 11pm. Lately, she’s switched to eight-hour day shifts, so she can train after work and strike a better balance.

Both professions have come with emotional highs and lows.

They have something else in common, too. “In midwifery, as well as basketball, I’ve got a lot of women around me. So having all these really strong people in my life really helps. They’re all understanding. They all want me to achieve in both sides of my life,” she says.

“But when I made the Commonwealth Games team, I didn’t realise so many people I worked with knew that I played basketball. It’s not something I really talk about at work.”

Anderson has just returned from China, the latest stop on the Fiba 3×3 Women’s Series, where New Zealand continued their steady improvement, finishing fifth in Xiantao. She had one day at home before heading back to the hospital.

“It feels a little bit crazy this year,” she admits. “A couple of weeks ago, we played in Mongolia, had three days at home, I went to work for one day, then flew back to China. And now we’re off to the Comm Games. But it’s okay, because I love travel.”

Moving from country to country has been a constant in Anderson’s life.

Born in Hamilton, she grew up on the North Shore, where her dad was a builder. The family spent a year travelling around the United States before Vinnie decided to chase his league dream.

“He was 22, doing long hours as a builder, training after and before work. And he made it,” she says, becoming emotional. “It opened up so many doors for our family.”

Vinnie made his debut for the Warriors in 2002 and became a key player when they made the NRL grand final for the first time in 2003.

The family moved to the United Kingdom when Azure (pronounced ‘Asia’) was 7 and they stayed for eight years while her father played in the Super League for St Helens, Warrington and Salford.

There were a lot of challenging times, Anderson admits. “Living in England, it was tough. Kids don’t play the same; sport wasn’t big. I was just playing netball. We had zero family there, and it wasn’t sunny – which makes such a difference when you’re a Kiwi kid.”

She came home to New Zealand for Year 10 at Hamilton Girls’, before heading to France a year later when her dad signed with league club AS Carcassonne.

There was more of a community feeling where they lived in France and her family was happier. “But I begged Dad to come back for my last year of high school,” says Anderson, who returned to Hamilton Girls’ in Year 13.

After playing netball in England, Anderson took up basketball in her first year at Hamilton Girls’. But it wasn’t her choice.

Her aunty was the prems coach at Hamilton Girls’ and she knew Anderson’s parents had played the game at Church College, when it was the strongest basketball school in the country. “So, my aunty said, ‘You’ve got to play’. So many days I came home crying,” Anderson says.

“I couldn’t dribble, because I was a netball player. The shot was different. There was so much to learn.”

But when she returned three years later, Anderson was determined to be better. “I never wanted to feel like I couldn’t play again. So I trained really hard and that’s when I really fell in love with basketball,” she says.

At 19, she returned to France and joined “a really bad” social league basketball team. But it proved to be the beginning of a new chapter, with clubs Le Soler then Cugnaux picking her up to play in France’s top women’s league.

“Cugnaux was a really great club. I just sent my old coach one of my New Zealand jerseys,” says Anderson, who spent four years playing there.

“I feel like my basketball career has been lucky. It hasn’t been a typical career – I didn’t go to college, I didn’t play in Australia like a lot of Kiwi girls. But I’ve had a lot of great opportunities.”

Anderson could easily have stayed in France – pursuing basketball and a career as a pastry chef.

She and her mum completed a pastry diploma together, but after working in a bakery, she realised a future in the kitchen wasn’t for her. She still bakes cakes for special occasions.

She came home to study midwifery at AUT, but basketball remained a constant – she’s played all four seasons of the Tauihi League with Kāhu. She still trains regularly with her dad in the gym he set up in his garage.

Four years ago, Anderson found a new passion in 3x3 basketball. She was selected for New Zealand in 2023 and they beat Australia in the eight-game Trans-Tasman Cup series.

She loves the fast pace of the game, the freedom it allows and the accountability it demands.

“I love that there’s nowhere to hide,” she says. “In 5x5 there are 12 players in a team, and it’s a lovely environment. But in threes, you’ve got three on the court and one sub – and everybody is a key part of the team.

“You can’t coach during a game, so we have to prep well, and it’s just you and your three friends out there. You’ve got to have good connections and be able to figure things out as a player.

“And it’s so exciting. One team can be up by four points, then you hit two shots in five seconds and it’s a tied game. Even when you’re playing, you’re like, ‘What just happened?’ It’s really intense, the fitness is crazy, and the music makes such a fun atmosphere.”

Anderson’s partner of the past four years, Dylan Thompson, is also a basketballer, but he won’t be going to Glasgow. “We only found out I’d been selected six weeks out,” she says. “But to celebrate, he’s meeting me in New York afterwards.”

For just under a week, Anderson will chase a Commonwealth medal. Then she’ll return to the maternity ward, helping deliver more New Zealanders into the world.

The two sides of her life don’t compete – they complement each other. “I’m one of those people who actively relaxes,” she laughs. “I love them both so much. Choosing one over the other just isn’t an option.”

This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.