Grace Kara (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Rasmussen; born 18 March 1988 in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

player of Samoan descent. Kara played in the

National Bank Cup The National Bank Cup, originally known as the Coca-Cola Cup, was the top level national Netball in New Zealand, New Zealand netball league between 1998 in New Zealand, 1998 and 2007 in New Zealand, 2007. The league was organised by Netball Ne ...

for the Auckland Diamonds from 2005 to 2007. She continued playing in Auckland for the

Northern Mystics Northern Mystics are a New Zealand netball team based in Auckland. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Northern in the ANZ Premiership. Netball Northern is the governing body t ...

in the

ANZ Championship The ANZ Championship, also known as the Trans-Tasman Netball League, is a former netball league featuring teams from both Australia and New Zealand. Between 2008 and 2016, it was the top-level league in both countries. The competition was owned ...

, starting in 2008. She is the younger sister of fellow Mystics player Rachel Rasmussen and she is also the older sister of Ann-Helen Rasmussen. Kara was a member of the New Zealand U21 team from 2004 to 2009, winning gold (2005) and silver (2009) medals at the World Youth National Championships. In 2009, she travelled with the senior national team, the

Silver Ferns The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns ( or ), represent Netball New Zealand in international netball tournaments such as the Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Taini Jamison Trophy, the Constell ...

, as a member of their extended training squad. Kara earned a place in the Silver Ferns lineup the following year, making her debut against Samoa. She later travelled to Delhi for the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

, and was named in the 2010 Fastnet Ferns for the

World Netball Series The Fast5 Netball World Series is an annual international Fast5 netball competition. The competition, which began in October 2009, features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens. The competition is co ...

. She suffered a season ending ACL injury in 2011, which left her out of the end of year squad. She made the squad again for the 2012–13 season, and was named in the twelve for the Australian leg of the 2012 Quad Series, but a stress fracture left her unable to take part. In 2017 she joined Northern Stars where she almost immediately became the captain of the

ANZ Premiership The ANZ Premiership is the top level netball league featuring teams from New Zealand. In 2017 it replaced the ANZ Championship, which also included teams from Australia, as the top level netball league in New Zealand. It is organised by Netbal ...

team. In 2018 she announced that she is pregnant.

References

External links

Silver Ferns profileANZ Championship profile
New Zealand netball players Northern Mystics players ANZ Championship players New Zealand international netball players Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Netball players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Netball players from Auckland 1988 births Living people Commonwealth Games gold medallists in netball Netball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games ANZ Premiership players Northern Stars players 2015 Netball World Cup players New Zealand international Fast5 players Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic players Auckland Diamonds players Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen {{NewZealand-netball-bio-stub