For Silver Ferns legend Casey Kopua, being stranded on a deserted beach on Celebrity Treasure Island sounds like a holiday.
Having made history as New Zealand’s most-capped netball player and overcome horrific on-court injuries to win a World Cup, the former athlete is now a mother of three and works three jobs, so mucking around in the sand in front of some cameras should be a walk in the park, right?
“I’m sure it’ll push me past my comfort zone in a lot of ways,” explains Casey, 39. “But I’m used to being part of a team and giving it a go. It won’t always be a happy time, but I’m 100% certain we can have fun doing it!”
Fans of the netball star will no doubt feel pleased to see Casey back in the limelight. If there’s one word to describe her, both on the court and in life, it would be “relentless”. After retiring from the Ferns in 2017, the Hamilton-born star rejoined the squad two years later. She knew she needed to tick just one more goal off her career to-do list – a Netball World Cup.
“When I retired after having my daughter Māia, I really thought I’d finished,” says Casey. “Even though I was still playing at a national level, it wasn’t international. But not having won a World Cup, there was still something inside me that wasn’t quite finished.
“I decided to commit to that and when we won, it was awesome. Then I found out I was pregnant again and I couldn’t think of a better way to go out. It was my own decision, not an injury or not being selected.”
Casey constantly battled injury throughout her career and it was her 2014 knee injury – a ruptured patella tendon and dislocated kneecap, which happened during a game against Australia and kept her off the court for six months – that she counts as the lowest moment of her life.
“When I busted my knee, it felt like everything was taken away from me,” she says. “Something that I loved was gone. My body is a machine and all of a sudden it didn’t work any more.”
Casey remembers the day like it was yesterday.
“A part of my knee was sitting in the wrong place and it was stuck. My dad always taught me that unless your leg’s broken, you get up and carry on. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t straighten my leg and I couldn’t walk.
“I remember watching my husband try to get down to me on the court, but he couldn’t. Then I was given a magic green stick of morphine, woke up in the changing room and my leg was back to normal. That’s when the realisation set in, like, ‘S**t, my leg is pretty screwed.’”
Her husband Terry, 38, has been a constant pillar of strength for Casey throughout their 12-year marriage, and she’ll miss chatting to him and the kids while away on Treasure Island.
Though she’s always busy juggling her three jobs – as a sports coordinator at Matamata College, an F45 trainer and running her own kids’ sports app S5 Netball – she makes family her number-one priority.
“Terry was very keen for me to sign up for CTI,” smiles Casey, who’s a mother to Māia, seven, William, three, and Luke, two. “It’s more the three kids left behind that makes it challenging, but we’re both grateful for how I can show our kids what their mum can still do.”
So how has motherhood changed the netball superstar?
“Well, you’ve never really been tired until you’ve had kids,” grins Casey. “This is going to be like a holiday for me!”
Although she won’t be swanning around in swimwear.
“I don’t own a bikini – I’ll leave that to someone else,” she laughs. “I don’t look like I used to when I played netball, mainly because I’ve had three kids.
“But I know who I am, I feel strong and I want to empower other girls, especially Māia, to be OK with who they are.”
Celebrity Treasure Island premieres 7.30pm Monday 9 September on TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+.
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