Kate Alexandra Heffernan (born 7 October 1999) is a New Zealand netball international and former

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

. She represented the

New Zealand national netball team 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 Netball at the Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Games, the ...

at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2023 Netball World Cup. She captained New Zealand at the 2024 Netball Nations Cup. In

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, she also made two appearances for the

New Zealand women's national cricket team The New Zealand women's national cricket team, nicknamed the White Ferns, represents New Zealand in international women's cricket. One of eight teams competing in the ICC Women's Championship (the highest level of international women's cricke ...

. Heffernan comes from a family of netball internationals: at the 2024 Netball Nations Cup, herself and her sister, Georgia Heffernan, became the third set of sisters to play international netball for New Zealand. Her mother, Annette Heffernan and her aunt, Maxine Blomquist, were the first set. However, the Heffernan sisters are the first sisters to actually play in the same team at the same time. A cousin, Shirley Langrope, was also a New Zealand netball international. As well as playing netball together for New Zealand, the Heffernan sisters have played together in several teams, including the Southern Steel netball team and the Otago Sparks women's cricket team.

Early life, family and education

Heffernan is the daughter of Noel and Annette Heffernan. Her mother, her aunt, Maxine Blomquist, her sister, Georgia Heffernan and a cousin, Shirley Langrope, are all New Zealand netball internationals. Her father played rugby union for Canterbury Country. The Heffernan family live on their sheep and beef farm, near Tapanui, West Otago. The Heffernan sisters attended Tapanui's Blue Mountain College and St Hilda's Collegiate School. Kate attended the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, where she studied psychology.

Cricket

Early years

Heffernan represented Otago at under-15 and under-16 levels. She and Georgia Heffernan also won national titles representing St Hilda's Collegiate School.

Otago Sparks

Between 2016 and 2019, Heffernan played as a left-arm medium bowler for Otago Sparks. She played 28 matches for Sparks. She was a member of the Sparks team that won the 2016–17 New Zealand Women's Twenty20 Competition. In the final against Canterbury Magicians, Heffernan took 4–21 off her four overs. Her 2018 Sparks team mates included her sister, Georgia Heffernan.

New Zealand

In February 2018, Heffernan was called up to play for

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 ...

. She subsequently made two

women's Twenty20 international Women's Twenty20 international (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 international is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The very firs ...

appearances. On 16 March 2018 she made her WT20I debut against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

during their tour of New Zealand. On 20 March 2018 she made a second appearance against the same opponents.

Netball

St Hilda's

In 2016 and 2017, the Heffernan sisters were members of the St Hilda's Collegiate School team that won back-to-back

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 ...

secondary school netball titles. 2016 was the first time St Hilda's had reached the final five stage and final of the tournament. In 2016 the St Hilda's team assistant coach was their mother, Annette Heffernan.

Netball South

Between 2017 and 2019, the Heffernan sisters played for Netball South in the National Netball League. Ahead of the

season, while playing for Netball South, they were also named as training partners for Southern Steel.

Southern Steel

Since

, Heffernan has played for Southern Steel. On 11 June 2018, she made her senior debut for Steel in a Round 6 match against Mainland Tactix. She joined Steel as a replacement for an injured Dani Gray and received a contract for the remainder of the season. She was a fringe member of the Steel team that won the 2018 ANZ Premiership. However, she subsequently established herself as senior member of the Steel team. She initially played for Steel at wing defence before switching to centre for the

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season. Her sister, Georgia Heffernan, also plays for Steel. ;ANZ Premiership statistics , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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New Zealand

In August 2021, Heffernan was included in the 2021–22

squad. She was subsequently included in the squad for the 2021 Taini Jamison Trophy Series, but didn't get on court. On 12 October 2021, she made her unofficial debut for New Zealand against New Zealand Men. She was included in the 2022 Commonwealth Games squad and, on 30 July 2022, she eventually made her senior debut in New Zealand's opening match against

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. In just her sixth test, she helped New Zealand win the bronze medal. She went on to represent New Zealand at the 2023 Netball World Cup and was named Midcourter of the Tournament. Ahead of the 2024 Netball Nations Cup, Heffernan was named vice-captain to Phoenix Karaka. During the tournament Georgia Heffernan made her senior debut for New Zealand against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The Heffernan sisters now became the third set of sisters to play international netball for New Zealand. The first set were their mother and aunt, Annette Heffernan and Maxine Blomquist. However, the Heffernan sisters are the first sisters to actually play in the same team at the same time. On 22 January 2024, Heffernan captained New Zealand in the match against

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Honours

Netball

;

* Constellation Cup **''Winners'':

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

* Taini Jamison Trophy **''Winners'':

; Southern Steel * ANZ Premiership **''Winners'':

Cricket

; Otago Sparks * Women's Super Smash **''Winners'': 2016–17

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heffernan, Kate 1999 births Living people New Zealand netball players New Zealand international netball players Netball players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in netball Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games 2023 Netball World Cup players New Zealand women Twenty20 International cricketers New Zealand women cricketers Otago Sparks cricketers Southern Steel players ANZ Premiership players National Netball League (New Zealand) players Sportspeople from Invercargill

Kate Kate may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American author o ...

People educated at St Hilda's Collegiate School University of Otago alumni New Zealand twins