Maria Folau – A Famous Netball Player Who Got Her Name in The New Zealand U21 Squad in 2003 and became a Part of The World Youth Cup Winning Team

Maria Folau

Maria Folau, a famous netball player, was born on 18 February 1987 in Tokoroa, New Zealand. New Zealand’s international netball player, her first name was Solonaima Maria Tuta’ia. She got her name after her grandmother, but she began to use her middle name only when she entered high school as her teacher and friends had difficulty pronouncing her first name.

She is the daughter of Fuisami Tuta’ia, a forestry worker and Niukini, a homemaker. After her marriage with Israel Folau, a conservative Christian and an Australian former professional rugby player, she entered into the Folau family.

Career

Maria attended high school at Lynfield College. But in the final year, she transferred to the Mount Albert Grammar School. From her school days, she has an interest in netball, and her interest showed her way. She became a captain of the school’s first Premier Netball team, which came fourth under her command at the Upper North Island Secondary Schools tournament and New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Championships respectively. Folau got her name in the New Zealand U21 squad in 2003. After two years, she became a part of the winning team that brought the World Youth Cup home.

That year 2005, she got an invitation from the Silver Fans Team, making her on-court debut when the Ferns toured Jamaica. Fern’s career didn’t last long. Because of the reason for her height, she was into the Auckland Diamonds as their player. In her early career, from 2005-2007, she played domestic netball for the Auckland Diamonds during the National Bank Cup. She signed with the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, partnering Irene van Dyk in the shooting circle, with the start of the ANZ Championship in 2008. Before transferring back to Auckland to play with the Northern Mystics, she played with the magic for two years, which was starting in 2010.

More About Folau

Later, in her career, Maria won the gold medals with her team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2009 World Netball Series, 2010 Commonwealth Games. Besides, she won the silver medal at the 2007 World Netball Championship. Folau was the only player who was sent off during the match. It was against the Swifts for persistent breaking in the 2010 ANZ Championships. She was sent off in the last two minutes of the match and she couldn’t play further in that match.

Folau got into the Mt. Albert Grammar School Hall of Fame. Maria switched to Silver Ferns, after playing for 9 seasons with the Northern Mystics. After that, she joined Adelaide Thunderbirds in the Australian Super Netball league before the 2019 season. In the same year, she got her name as vice-captain of the Netball New Zealand for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.