Photography: Selina Nunn
When Silver Ferns legend Julie Seymour took her seat to watch the Mainland Tactix play in Christchurch recently, she was simply there as a proud mum and spectator. But as the team list flashed up on the screen,30 years of history suddenly came rushing back when she spotted the name “J Seymour” up in lights!
“It got me!” laughs Julie, 55.
“I was like, ‘Oh, man, it’s been a while since a J Seymour has been on a screen!’”
Now courtside to cheer on her 21-year-old daughter Josie, netball great Julie – who represented the Silver Ferns 92 times, including two stints as captain, and was also the first-ever captain of the Tactix – bursts with pride as she chats about her girl signing a full-time contract with the Canterbury club.
And Josie’s goal is to one day be a Silver Fern like her mum.
“It’s the big dream, for sure,” Josie tells Woman’s Day.
“To represent my country and my family, and to have ‘Seymour’ on the back of that black dress again would be pretty cool!”
Walking a path her mum helped pave
To become a Fern would be a fitting full-circle moment for Josie, who grew up watching her mum play. She always loved going to the games, although she jokes she was more excited about the food than the matches!
“I have vague memories of always just waiting for half time so we could get some hot chips,” she recalls.
“But then afterwards, we’d get to go on the court to see Mum and I remember feeling like a superstar.”
While Julie – who played for the Silver Ferns from 1994 to 2009 – made her name in the midcourt, 1.8m-tall Josie has found success in defence, which she cheekily puts down to genes inherited from her dad, former All Blacks star Dallas Seymour, 58.
Asked if she’s taller than her mum, she grins, “Yes, passed her a long time ago!”
Laughing, Julie, who has enjoyed a long career as a netball coach, adds, “It’s funny because out of all my four children, Josie was the smallest baby on all the Plunket charts! When she was measured, she was always on the lower percentile, so I thought she’d just be a little midcourter!”
Mother-daughter partnership
For the pair, netball has always been their thing – a shared passion that’s bonded them. Julie says she’s forever impressed by Josie’s “netball brain”, and that she’s always swiftly picked up on the sport’s nuances and tactics.
For Josie, the netball court is where she got to spend time with her mother.
“It was just a fun time bonding for me and Mum. We’ve always been buddies.”
That connection deepened when Julie became her girl’s coach and started bringing Josie along on netball trips as her “little sidekick”. Josie credits those years as being the foundation she needed to prepare to play professionally.
“Having Mum’s brain really got me to where I am today, for sure,” she says, adding Julie has only yelled at her once in more than a decade of coaching.
“And that was because I was being a bit of an idiot!”
The challenges that shaped a champion
Despite growing up around netball, it wasn’t until Year 13 when Josie, who was then at St Margaret’s College in Christchurch, got serious about it becoming a career. However, when she left school and began to play for clubs, she didn’t have much success.
“It was a blow to the ego,” confesses Josie.
“I came out of high school as the top dog, but the club sceneis very different.”
Balancing netball with her intense nursing degree and the rest of her life was tricky, but Josie persevered – and last year, her hard work and determination paid off when her Mainland Hellers squad won the National Netball League grand final.
Josie then went on to make her ANZ Premiership debut with the Tactix and was in the squad when they claimed their historic first title. Josie also won silver with the New Zealand under-21 team at the World Youth Cup.
No pressure to succeed
Remarkably, Josie insists she doesn’t feel the weight of her famous surname.
“I’ve never felt heaps of pressure – definitely not from Mum or Dad. Their favourite line is, ‘Do your personal best and have fun,’ which I love.”
Julie has led by example in all areas of the sport, returning to the court after each of her first three babies, Josie’s older siblings Harrison, now 25, Hannah, 23, and Thomas, 16.
“Not many people went back and played after they’d had kids back in my day,” recalls Julie.
“I wanted my kids to see that you could still go out and do your thing, which was pretty cool.”
Julie is loving life as Josie’s biggest fan
Today, netball remains everything to both of the Seymour girls. Julie was actually supposed to be taking a year off the sport, however, she admits, “I’ve done the odd little coaching session or holiday programme, but I haven’t committed myself to coaching a team!”
Mostly, though, Julie’s savouring the view from the stands as a very proud parent.
She smiles, “Sometimes when I see Josie’s gear with the ‘Seymour’ on it, I think to myself, ‘Wow! Did I use to run around and actually do all of that?’ It feels like a whole lifetime ago! But it’s been very cool to see her step into this next level, do really well and take her opportunities.
“I remember playing for the Silver Ferns with all our kids sitting behind the bench and I just have this memory of them yelling out, ‘Go, Mum!’ Now we’ve flipped and I’m the one behind the bench saying, ‘Go, Josie!’ I’m so proud of her.”
