Naenae club netball to the top: How Silver Fern Karin Burger overcame the odds
Sunday, 15 June 2025
Slogging it out in Hutt Valley club netball for five seasons, the Silver Ferns looked a world away for Karin Burger.
Now in her 14th year in her adopted home of New Zealand, South African-raised Burger can let out a wry smile.
The standout Silver Fern defender’s story is one of perseverance, steely determination, and self belief.
Aged 18, Burger packed up her life in the small town of Vredendal, three hours drive from Cape Town, to move to Wellington by herself.
Nothing was promised to her on the netball front.
Burger started out with the Naenae Collegians United club in the Hutt Valley competition in 2012 and literally worked her way up from netball’s grassroots to the top.
“They pretty much took me in when I first moved to New Zealand and supported me so much, until this day they still support me. I still stay in touch with a lot of the coaches and management who were there when I started,” Burger recalled.
“I think that was also a big part of me succeeding at life with having them backing me and helping push me forward and putting me at the right places at the right times. At that time there was this conception or idea that you had to play in the bigger clubs or the city clubs to make it somewhere. I put a challenge out to myself, especially coming from a small town in South Africa, to prove you don’t have to.”
Burger spent five seasons playing under coaches Joanne Paora and Lynette Imrie at Naenae Collegiate, fondly recalling the battles with fellow title contenders Upper Hutt Maidstone United.
Despite impressing at club level, Burger was not able to break into the Central Pulse.
On the other side of the world from her family, parents Gerrit Sr and Alma, and siblings, sister Almarie and brother Gerrit, there were moments she questioned if she had made the right move.
“I guess I did have those fleeting thoughts [of returning home], especially in the first two or three years when the grind is really hard and you can’t see anything happening from the grind.
“I obviously had those discussions with my parents and I knew what they’ve sacrificed for me to be able to be here, so I don’t want to throw that back in their face and go back to South Africa.”
Ultimately, Burger knew regardless of netball, there were greater life opportunities for her in New Zealand than South Africa.
Her breakthrough moment came in the first year of Netball New Zealand’s second-tier Beko League in 2016, her fifth year in the country.
Burger starred for Netball Central and was named Beko Netball League Player of the Year. From there, she was invited to trial for the Silver Ferns later that year, a rare sight for a player outside the elite ranks.
The following year, she signed her first domestic contract with the Pulse. A Silver Ferns debut came against England in 2018.
Her meteoric rise continued in 2019 when she was a member of the Silver Ferns’ Netball World Cup winning squad in Liverpool.
“The Beko League that started in 2016 that was a big catapult for that. That put a lot of the top talent in the region in one team competing against other talent in the rest of the country. A focus area for selectors to look at rather than having to go around club competitions to spot talent,” Burger said of her sliding doors moment.
Tactix hunting historic title
After four seasons with the Pulse and two ANZ Premiership titles (2019 and 2020), Burger joined the Christchurch-based Tactix for 2021.
She has been a defensive rock for the side, forming a brilliant combination at the back with Jane Watson.
Midway through the competition, the Tactix find themselves top of the table with four wins from five games under new head coach Donna Wilkins.
The Tactix have come close to winning their first ANZ Premiership title, but fallen short at the final hurdle.
They lost grand finals to the Pulse in 2020 and Mystics in 2021, the latter by two goals. Last year, they hosted the elimination final (two versus three) against the Mystics and led by three goals entering the final quarter.
A powerful finish from the Mystics saw them prevail 68-64 and go on to win the title, edging the Pulse in the decider.
If the Tactix can perform strongly in the final five round games and lock up top spot they would gain automatic entry to the grand final, which they would host.
A first home final in team history at Christchurch’s Wolfbrook Arena would be massive for netball in the region, 63-test Fern Burger said.
She was well aware there was a lot of netball left in the season and plenty for the Tactix to improve on.
“In the last few years since I’ve been here we’ve been very close at times, but just not able to get that last bit done the way we should. I think that’s a key focus area for us as well.
“We know we’re good on paper. We know we’ve got really good players, but it’s about whether we can put it all out there on court and cohesively do it as a unit. And at times when it matters as well.”
Sunday’s clash against the Pulse at Wolfbrook (4pm start) has the makings of a cracker.
Both sides are littered with Silver Ferns and should be battling it out for the title come late July, alongside the Mystics.
There would have been some tough conversations at Pulse training this week after a flat showing against the Mystics last Sunday in a rematch of the grand final.
The Pulse disappointed in their first game at Wellington’s TSB Arena this season, failing to fire in a 64-51 loss.
They will be desperate to atone against a Tactix side riding a three-game winning streak.
“I’m sure they won’t be very happy with their performance. They’re obviously a lot better than what they put out over the last weekend. There’ll be coming hard at us knowing we’re top of the table as well. We know they always bring it to us and it’s always a competitive game.
“I wouldn’t write them off at all. They’ll come back with guns blazing trying to get that title and they’ve been known in the past to fight back. It’s going to be a good one.”
AT A GLANCE:
ANZ Premiership round six:
Sunday, 4pm: Tactix v Pulse at Wolfbrook Arena, Christchurch
Monday, 7.30pm: Mystics v Magic at Trusts Arena, Auckland