Grant and Tuivaiti to lead Pulse

Katrina Grant and Cathrine Tuivaiti will lead the Central Pulse in 2017, named captain and vice-captain respectively.

Tuivaiti joined the Pulse in the off-season, making the move from the SKYCITY Mystics where she had been a foundation player.

“It has been a huge change for me, to leave family and everything I’ve ever known for nine years to come down here and try and make it work,” Tuivaiti said.

“It’s amazing, the young ones are great and I love being under the watchful eye of some pretty amazing legends (coaching staff including Yvette McCausland-Durie, Sandra Edge, Irene van Dyk and Wai Taumaunu).

“It has been amazing and I didn’t realise how much I needed this until I got here. Everything feels right and I’m glad I did it.”

With a long pre-season of training under their belts, the Pulse is itching to get more live on-court action, which will come in the form of the pre-season tournament at the Te Wānanga o Raukawa campus in Otaki this weekend (March 10-12).

All six ANZ Premiership teams will be in action and Tuivaiti has one last challenge to overcome before the season-proper begins.

“It has felt like it’s been a couple of years since we’ve taken the court in real competition mode,” she said.

“And obviously, I know in the back of my mind, our first game up (Friday) is against the Mystics, so there’s going to be emotion in that.

“But I know what my job is, I know the choice that I made and I know where my heart lies this year and that’s with the Pulse.”

The Central Pulse will open their ANZ Premiership campaign against the SKYCITY Mystics on Sunday 26 March as part of a blockbuster Super Sunday at Hamilton’s Claudelands Arena – GET TICKETS.

Can’t make it to the game? Fans can catch all the action LIVE on SKY Sport NZ or via Radio Sport.