“With four kids came a competitive nature. I held a lot of responsibility for my siblings but also there was no such thing as losing,” Placid says.
“I wanted to play netball 24/7 but my Mum knew my body was growing and I couldn’t do netball all the time. I was getting shin splints and my body needed rest, so I needed to do something completely different.”
Surf lifesaving and water polo provided variety and as a teenager Placid gained a sports scholarship to attend St Margaret’s College in Christchurch.
Tiana Placid (left) in action for the Canterbury Wildcats squares up against Auckland Dream’s Arielle Williams-Mackey in 2020. Photo / Photosport
“I didn’t even know that school existed. It was just another world for me,” Placid says.
“Sporting wise, it was amazing. The connections, the type of coaching and opportunities I got. We went to Samoa and we went to Australia. I was doing a really good job in netball and water polo.”
But as much as she enjoyed her sport, Placid was hugely affected by the Christchurch earthquakes, which came towards the end of her time at St Margaret’s.
“They had a massive impact on me mentally,” she says.
“I ended up getting really bad headaches and migraines. Getting through year 12 was hard, but playing sport got me through. I ended up getting pretty depressed, which I didn’t really understand at the time, but the migraines just hit me. I wasn’t socialising. If there was another earthquake or an aftershock, I was calling my Mum because it just freaked me out so much.”
When she finished school, Placid was involved with the Mainland Tactix netball squad. But life was about to change for the then-19-year-old.
TVNZ producer Tiana Placid with coin-toss kid Fiary Zhang at a Black Caps T20 match against the West Indies at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
“This was a turning moment for me as I fell pregnant and had my daughter, and that’s what changed my life. Looking back I was going on natural talent and had had everything handed to me on a plate. I hadn’t known what true training and exercise was. Going into the Tactix, I was exposed because I hadn’t done the training that I needed to have done to be at that level,” Placid says.
After having her daughter, a new level of energy and purpose arrived in Placid’s life. For years, she had watched on as her mother became one of the leading floor managers in New Zealand television, working on shows such as What Now and The Son of a Gunn Show as well as different sports.
“I was a machine,” Placid says.
“Being a netballer was still my dream, but an opportunity opened up for me to become a floor manager on What Now and to be trained by my Mum. I also went for my personal trainer certificate, and this was all to complement being at home with my daughter.”
Placid continued to stay active, playing club netball and then in 2022 a friend asked her to come play a sport called fistball.
“I said absolutely not, it’s not happening. It sounded inappropriate and I didn’t want to play a sport called that,” Placid says.
Fistball is similar to volleyball, with two teams of five players hitting a ball over a high net, using only their fists or forearms. Players use up to three touches per side (allowing one bounce), before returning it.
As Placid looked into the sport, she changed her mind and gave it a go. Before she knew it, her training led to selection for New Zealand at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. Last year, she attended her second World Games, with the 2025 edition being held in Chengdu, China in August.
“It was unreal,” Placid says, with New Zealand finishing sixth out of the eight qualified countries.
“All the teams were just amazed at how much we’d improved for such a little country.”
Tiana Placid at last year’s New Zealand Cricket Awards. Andrew Cornaga / Photosport
The sport remains very niche in New Zealand, but there’s a fistball summer league in Christchurch this summer and they are trying to get more people around the country interested.
“As soon as you get over the name and you realise what the sport is, it’s really cool. It’s also a really good conversation starter,” Placid says.
In 2023, Placid was invited by a friend to play some representative netball in Samoa, but was told it would be as a defender, rather than her favoured attack position. Not one to turn down a challenge, Placid not only made the trip, but also made the team of the tournament. With Samoan heritage on her father’s side, she was then asked if she would represent Samoa the following month at the Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands.
Placid represented Samoa on the netball court again in February last year at the PacificAus Sports Netball Series in Brisbane in February. A six-team tournament, Samoa won all five games against Scotland, Tonga, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and a First Nations side.
Placid is busy throughout the summer months as floor manager for White Ferns and Black Caps matches for TVNZ, and it was cricket that saw her get the opportunity of a lifetime 18 months ago.
“Mum and I were able to floor manage the men’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean together in June 2024. It’s so cool to be able to say I did that with her.”
Placid hopes to get offered work at the men’s T20 World Cup in India early this year, as well as the women’s version later in the year in England. She’s used to making new connections wherever she works, but at global cricket tournaments, there’s also the chance to work with other Kiwi women, including presenter Laura McGoldrick and commentator Katey Martin.
After that, although she has no firm sporting plans, she’s always looking for the next opportunity.
“I really want to try and play another sport,” says Placid.
“I don’t know what that sport is or what that looks like. I have been saying it’s going to be cricket, however, that needs a lot of time so I don’t actually know.”
You get the feeling that whatever sport she chooses, Placid will succeed.
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.