by Murray Hills, photo Andy Jackson Taranaki Daily News

The past few months have flown by for Terai Sadler.

She's been away with the New Zealand under-20 women's basketball team to play in the Australian state champs, been picked up by a club team to play in the Aussie league and landed a full two-year scholarship to attend Crowder College in Missouri in the United States.

And to cap that off, she's in Auckland this weekend for a three-day camp with the Tall Ferns – New Zealand's top women's side.

Then the 18-year-old from Waitara is back to Australia to link up with her club team, the Mildura Heat which plays in the Big V women's league.

"It's not a professional league. We don't get paid but they pay for food and accommodation as well as my flights to and from Aussie," she said earlier this week while on a short break home to catch up with her parents, Pua and David Sadler.

Sadler said the Aussie league finishes in early August and she will return home for five days before packing her bags and heading to the United States.

It's a big move for the former New Plymouth Girls' High School student, but one she's looking forward to.

"It's a bit scary ... it's a big step," she said. "I'll have two years at Crowder College and then hopefully attend another college for another two years ... four years all up."

Sadler said the move would hopefully improve her basketball and improve her chances of gaining selection in the Tall Ferns lineup.

"That's the ultimate goal, to play for the Tall Ferns."

Sadler said her main position on court was as a small forward.

"But I'll play anywhere. I'm playing small forward for Mildura and that's where I'll probably play in the States."

Sadler said her chances in her "freshman" year would be limited.

"Generally you don't get a lot of court time as a first year, but I'll be trying hard to push for starting spot."

The good news for Sadler is she will know someone at the college.

"I thought I wouldn't know anyone in America, let alone at the college. But Jordan Hunter, who's in the New Zealand under-20, is in her second year there and she will show me the ropes."

Sadler played netball all through school and only started basketball when she went to Girls' High as a year nine student.

"I played both for a while and made the senior A basketball team in year 11. If you're in the senior A basketball team, you're not allowed to play in the senior A netball team in the premier one competition which sucks a little. I just wanted to play every sport I could."

Sadler said she played premier two for Girls' High in year 11 and in her year 12 year played premier one for Tysons.

A talented volleyballer, she also played in the school's senior A side for three years.

Her talents on the basketball court were noticed and she played rep basketball for Taranaki at age group level as well as the Taranaki women's team, with selection in the New Zealand under-19 and under-20 teams following.

New Plymouth's Trent Adam has coached her in a number of teams including the New Zealand under-19 side and knows her play well.

"I've coached Terai since 2008 and the first thing I noticed about her was she always found a way to get the ball," he said.

"She was a relentless rebounder, who would stop at nothing in pursuit of the ball. Because she always had the ball, I thought it was best we taught her what to do with it."

That meant an additional individual training session a week for the first year to work on finishing shots around the basket.

"As I started to realise the great work ethic she had, it became apparent that she could play at a higher level. We discussed goals and came up with playing for New Zealand age group teams and getting good enough to play in America."

In their second year working together, they added another weekly individual training session to help develop her game.

"Terai stayed focused and worked hard. Even though she was developing into one of the best power forwards in her age group, we realised that to play in the States, she would have to develop her shooting and ball handling to switch to the small forward position."

That meant more training and more individual sessions – she was training up to 16 hours a week.

"That's important, as once players get to the States, the training volume is high. We wanted Terai to understand the importance of being a great trainer, not just a great player.

"To her credit, she understood the demands and the importance of working harder than everyone else," Adam said.

"Everything has been geared to international success and right now that is what sets her apart.

"She is a Taranaki player, training at an international level."