KAKA Shiray

General
NATIONAL TEAM RETURN
Following a second anterior cruciate ligament [ACL] injury in 2018, she was not re-contracted with the New Zealand national team. She then studied dog training and began setting up an adventure dog walking business in Japan, where she was living with her husband Gillies. However, she moved back to New Zealand to resume training, and in November 2019 played her first international tournament since the injury. In 2020 she was awarded a contracted place on the national team. "I wouldn't say I was depressed, but I feel like if one more thing had happened to me, I probably could've been. These past three years [2017-2019] have not been easy. I've wanted to quit many times. I said to my husband that I wanted to start trying for babies because I had given up. Luckily, Gillies has been so supportive and made me want to keep going. Just having his last name made me want to continue his legacy as a sevens player. Seeing the girls do well and enjoy their rugby also made me want it really bad. So those were the two main things that kept me pushing for a spot." (allblack.com, 03 Mar 2020; nzrugby.co.nz, 19 Feb 2020; voxy.co.nz, 25 Nov 2019; newsroom.co.nz, 26 Feb 2020)

TOKYO MEDITATION
At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro she was a travelling reserve for the New Zealand national team, and did not play. She has used meditation to visualise herself on the field at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. "I 100% want to make the playing team this time round, and in my meditation sessions, I've already experienced it. I've already felt all of those feelings on how it will happen. I'm actually shaking thinking about it." (newsroom.co.nz, 26 Feb 2020)