Playing professional netball in one of the world's leading competitions is a dream come true but mix in a global pandemic and it's become the toughest sacrifice Trinidad and Tabago international Daystar Swift has had to make.
Her mother, husband and three-year-old daughter are all the way back home in the Caribbean, meaning video calls are the best she can hope for currently.
But after six months without seeing them physically, it’s getting hard.
“It really has been a tough time for me,” Swift told 1 NEWS.
“It’s almost like an emotional roller-coaster.”
The defender travelled to New Zealand to live out her professional netball dream, coming in as a replacement for the retired Leana Debruin at the Northern Stars.
Her family were meant to travel over and watch her take the court but with Covid-19 meant those plans fell through.
“It’s difficult – there will be nights where I just want to be by myself or I’ll just cry but then I realise that I’m here for a purpose and it's not going to change.”
Swift has played for the Calypso Girls in two world cups but after a pre-season and just one match in the ANZ Premiership, she said it's the toughest netball she's ever played.
“My first few sessions in pre-season was definitely taxing on my body,” she said.
“I was like, ‘I’m not sure if I can make this’.”
But she has and the countdown is now well and truly on with Swift and the ANZ Premiership set to return to action starting Friday evening.
Swift couldn’t be more eager.
“It's what I came here for so it would definitely be the highlight of the time in New Zealand.”
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