Jane Louise Watson (born 7 March 1990) is a New Zealand netball international. She was a member of the

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

teams that won the

2019 Netball World Cup The 2019 Netball World Cup (also known as the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the INF Netball World Cup. It was held from 12–21 July 2019 at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, England with matches ...

and the 2021 Constellation Cup. Watson has also played for both Mainland Tactix and Southern Steel 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 ...

and 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 ...

. In

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

she was a member of the Steel team that won the inaugural ANZ Premiership title. She was named ANZ Premiership Player of the Year in both 2017 and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. In April 2022, Watson was included on a list of the 25 best players to feature in netball leagues in New Zealand since 1998.

Early life, family and education

Watson was born and raised in the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. She is the daughter of Mary and Ross Watson. She initially grew up on her parents farm in

Cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

before the Watsons moved south to a new farm at Millers Flat on the Clutha River. As a youngster, she played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and only began playing

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 ...

because her school in Millers Flat didn't have a football team. Between 2005 and 2007, Watson attended

St Kevin's College, Oamaru St Kevin's College (also called Redcastle) in Oamaru, New Zealand, is a Catholic, coeducational, integrated, boarding and day, secondary school. It was founded by the Christian Brothers in 1927 for boys and became a co-educational school in 1 ...

as a boarder. In her last year at St Kevin's, Watson suffered from

heart problems Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

and subsequently had to wear a

pacemaker A pacemaker, also known as an artificial cardiac pacemaker, is an implanted medical device that generates electrical pulses delivered by electrodes to one or more of the chambers of the heart. Each pulse causes the targeted chamber(s) to co ...

for three years from the age of 17. In 2010, at the age of 20, she also dealt with the death of her partner. After returning from escorting his body to

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

, she caught

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacteria, bacterium ''Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild Course (medicine), clinical course, but in some outbreaks, the mortality rate approaches 10%. Signs a ...

. Watson spent three days in isolation at Timaru Hospital before being transferred to Christchurch Hospital. She lost significant weight from the illness. Between 2008 and 2010, Watson attended Lincoln University on a netball scholarship and gained a degree in Recreation Management specialising in sport. Between 2011 and 2012 she attended the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

where she gained a Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning.

Playing career

Early years

In 2011, Watson was a member of a Canterbury team that finished as runners-up to Otago in the under-21 final at Netball New Zealand's Age Group tournament. She was subsequently included in the under-21 team of the tournament.

Lincoln University

Watson played netball for Lincoln University in local

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

competitions.

Mainland Tactix

Between

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, Watson made 30 senior appearances for Mainland Tactix in the

. After three seasons playing for Southern Steel, Watson re-joined Tactix ahead of the

2018 ANZ Premiership season The 2018 ANZ Premiership season was the second season of Netball New Zealand's ANZ Premiership. With a team coached by Reinga Bloxham, captained by Wendy Frew and featuring Gina Crampton, Shannon Francois, Te Paea Selby-Rickit and Te Huinga Reo ...

. Watson captained Tactix between 2018 and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. On 5 May 2019, Watson made her 100th senior league appearance during a 2019 Round 11 match against Northern Stars. In

and

, Watson captained Tactix to two successive grand finals. In 2020 she was also named ANZ Premiership Player of the Year. In April 2022, Watson was included on a list of the 25 best players to feature in netball leagues in New Zealand since 1998. Watson will miss the 2022 ANZ Premiership season due to pregnancy. In June 2022, Watson announced she would back in 2023 to play for Tactix. Despite announcing Watson and her partner would move to Ōtaki in 2024 she was signed once for the 2024 season with the Mainland Tactix. Watson celebrated her 150th national league

game in April 2024.

Southern Steel

Between

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

, Watson played for Southern Steel, initially in the

and later in the

. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

she was a member of the Steel team that finished the season as minor premiers. She also played her 50th ANZ Championship game. In

she was a member of the Steel team that won both the inaugural

and Super Club titles. She was subsequently named 2017 ANZ Premiership Player of the Year ;ANZ Premiership statistics , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;",

Steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

, 0/0, , ?, , 18, , ?, , ?, , 41, , 104, , 109, , 3, , 16 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, style="text-align:center;", Tactix , , 0/0, , ?, , 19, , ?, , ?, , 31, , 71, , 127, , 34, , 16 , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, style="text-align:center;", Tactix , , 0/0, , 0, , 30, , 25, , 0, , 40, , 96, , 117, , 14, , 15 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", Tactix , 0/0, , 5, , 15, , 99, , 10, , 20, , 72, , 75, , 19, , 15 , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", Tactix , 0/0, , 0, , 12, , 0, , 0, , 15, , 78, , 109, , 10, , 17 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2, Career ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

New Zealand

Watson made her senior debut for

on 27 August 2016 against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

during the 2016 Netball Quad Series. She was a prominent member of the New Zealand team that won the

. She was also a member of the New Zealand team that won the 2021 Constellation Cup. On 3 March 2021, during the same series, Watson made her 50th test appearance for New Zealand. Alongside Gina Crampton, she also co-captained the team in the absence of Ameliaranne Ekenasio. Watson missed the 2021–22 international season due to a combination of pregnancy and recovering from ankle surgery. Watson was named in the 2022–23 squad after returning from maternity leave.

Personal life

In 2017 Watson got engaged to Will Carter, a blackcurrant farmer. In 2021 Watson announced she was pregnant with her partner, Santana Nicholls-Hepi. Santana has played netball for the

New Zealand Defence Force The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF; , "Line of Defence of New Zealand") is the three-branched military of New Zealand. The NZDF is responsible for the protection of the national security of New Zealand and its realm, promoting its interests, ...

. In May 2022 the couple announced the arrival of their daughter Tia.

Honours

;

Netball World Cup The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and the New ...

**''Winners'':

* Constellation Cup **''Winners'':

*Netball Nations Cup **''Winners'':

Taini Jamison Trophy The Taini Jamison Trophy series is an international netball series hosted by Netball New Zealand. The series traditionally features New Zealand national netball team, New Zealand playing a series of Test match (netball), test matches against a ...

**''Winners'':

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Fast5 Netball World 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 ...

**''Winners'':

; Southern Steel *

**''Winners'':

**''Minor premiers'':

* Netball New Zealand Super Club **''Winners'':

; Mainland Tactix *

**''Runners up'':

;Individual Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Jane 1990 births Living people New Zealand netball players New Zealand international netball players New Zealand international Fast5 players 2019 Netball World Cup players Netball players from Christchurch Mainland Tactix players Southern Steel players ANZ Premiership players ANZ Championship players People educated at St Kevin's College, Oamaru University of Canterbury alumni Lincoln University (New Zealand) alumni New Zealand schoolteachers 2023 Netball World Cup players 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen