Leah Shoard
Overview
 
Leah Shoard is an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...

 player in the ANZ Championship
ANZ Championship
The ANZ Championship is the pre-eminent netball league in the world. The competition is held annually between April and July, comprising 69 matches played over 17 weeks. It is contested by ten teams, five from Australia and five from New Zealand...

, playing for the Southern Steel
Southern Steel
The Southern Steel are a New Zealand netball team based in Invercargill that compete in the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The franchise was formed as an amalgamation of two teams from the National Bank Cup, the Dunedin-based Otago Rebels and the Invercargill-based Southern Sting...

 in New Zealand.

She played for the New South Wales Swifts
New South Wales Swifts
The New South Wales Swifts are an Australian netball team based in Sydney that compete in the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The Swifts were formed in 2007 as an amalgamation of two teams from the Commonwealth Bank Trophy – the Sydney Swifts and the Hunter Jaegers...

 in the 2008 season, having previously been signed for the Sydney Swifts
Sydney Swifts
The Sydney Swifts were an Australian netball team, playing in the national Commonwealth Bank Trophy. They were based out of Acer Arena and Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre in the suburb of Homebush. Following the 2003 demise of the Sydney Sandpipers, the Swifts were the only team representing the...

 and AIS Canberra Darters
AIS Canberra Darters
The AIS Canberra Darters were an Australian netball team, playing in the now defunct national Commonwealth Bank Trophy. They mostly represented the Australian Institute of Sport, giving young players experience at an elite level, but also included some young players from Canberra and the Australian...

 in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy
Commonwealth Bank Trophy
The Commonwealth Bank Trophy was the pre-eminent national netball competition in Australia from 1997 to 2007.It was established in 1997 as a true national league to replace the ailing, state club-based Mobil League. Designed from the beginning to be more marketable to the general public, it saw...

. While she was not signed up for the Swifts for the 2009 season, in December 2008, the Southern Steel
Southern Steel
The Southern Steel are a New Zealand netball team based in Invercargill that compete in the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The franchise was formed as an amalgamation of two teams from the National Bank Cup, the Dunedin-based Otago Rebels and the Invercargill-based Southern Sting...

 and Netball New Zealand
Netball New Zealand
Netball New Zealand is the national body which oversees, promotes and manages netball in New Zealand, including the Silver Ferns.Other competitions overseen include:*ANZ Championship – Premier Domestic Competition...

 announced that Shoard was allowed to join the New Zealand franchise in 2009, due to star shoot Donna Wilkins
Donna Wilkins
Donna Wilkins is one of New Zealand's leading sportswomen, representing her country in both netball and basketball. She became married to Southland farmer Mike Wilkins on 17 March 2007...

 being unavailable for the first two rounds after the birth of her first child.
Quotations

A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in "Friendship" in Essays, First series (1841)

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

The Bible, Proverbs 27:6 (NASB)

A friendship that can be ended didn't ever start.

Mellin de Saint-Gelais, Oeuvres poétiques

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Scots proverb, as published in Beauties of Allan Ramsay: Being a Selection of the Most Admired Pieces of that Celebrated Author, viz. The Gentle Shepherd; Christ's Kirk on the Green; The Monk, and the Miller's Wife; with his valuable collection of Scots Proverbs (1815), "Scots Proverbs" Ch. 1; also quoted in Pure Morning|Pure Morning, a song by Placebo|Placebo.

A friend loves at all times, and kinsfolk are born to share adversity.

The Bible, Proverbs 17:17 (NRSV)

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24, The Bible (New International Version)

It is amazing how you can surround yourself with so many people you can call friends, and yet actually only have one or two real ones.

Jerry Grant Blakeney

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

Anaïs Nin, Diary entry, March 1937

A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter;he who finds one finds a treasure.A faithful friend is beyond price,no sum can balance his worth.

Sirach 6:14-15 (The New American Bible)

Friendship is not for merriment but for stern reproach when friends go astray.

Tiruvalluvar, Tirukkural: 784

 
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