Already an age-grade representative in three sports, the promising 19-year-old Central Pulse netballer has just been called up for the Tall Ferns' basketball tour of Australia after helping the Tokomanawa Queens win this year's Tauihi title. "It was definitely a surprise," Mason told 1News. "It's always a privilege to represent your country so I'm super excited for it. It's pretty cool to be part of this campaign. "I'd been away [from basketball] for so long and it was hard to come back but once I trained as much as I needed to, it all came back to me. "Being able to get this opportunity to play for the Tall Ferns is pretty cool." Cooler still, Tall Ferns assistant coach Mel Downer believes her background in netball and touch rugby could give the team a unique advantage. "Basketball and netball are always looking at what they can steal from each other and in terms of what Parris does really well from her netball background Is the ability to see and use space and pass into space," Downer said. "It's something netball does a great job of and Parris in particular really does a great job of that." Her new job in the Tall Ferns though isn't getting in the way of her Silver Ferns ambitions but with the backing of the Central Pulse, Mason intends to continue growing in both sports. "I'd really love to have a good Pulse season so after the Ferns campaign, I'm going to be very netball focused for a bit," she said "But [I'll have] basketball in the back of mind, knowing that it is an opportunity to go to further events for basketball." Click the link to watch the full interview.
