The Southern Steel head coach can hardly believe it has come around so quickly, but admits she will be like her captain, Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit, and be glad when all the fuss is over.
But there is good reason for all that fuss as Bloxham brings up her 100th game at the helm of her beloved team against the Mainland Tactix tomorrow.
"When you say that number, it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but it’s been an absolute privilege to be here that long, to be honest," Bloxham said.
"Every game, every season, is always different and every game is another opportunity.
"I absolutely love my job and I love what I do. Sometimes I feel like I’m doing it for the first time. There’s always something to learn and something to take away from each game.
"I’ll approach [tomorrow] just like we do every other game. Nothing really changes — it’s just a number."
Bloxham joined the Steel as an assistant coach in 2013, but was no stranger to the Southland netball fortress, having played six seasons for the Southern Sting in the former National Bank Cup and coaching Southland from 2010 to 2012.
Her resume set her up to take over the Steel top job from Silver Ferns coach Noeline Taurua in 2017, when the transtasman ANZ Championship was abandoned and domestic netball returned to being solely a New Zealand affair.
Despite her background, Bloxham was a bundle of nerves when it came to her first game in charge against the Northern Stars in Hamilton.
"I remember I was just absolutely packing myself — I was so nervous.
"The thing I was most nervous about was having to do the pre-game speech to my own team and wanting to get that piece right, because I knew that once they got out on court, they were going to be fine.
"There was a lot of nerves but there was also a lot of excitement to get started and have a go at it.
"I look back and think ‘Wow, I’m definitely not that same coach I was back then’."
That trophy was backed up the following year, when the Steel came back from being 12 goals down in the final to astonishingly beat the Central Pulse 54-53.
"I’ll never forget that," Bloxham said.
"That was such an outstanding three minutes — that was huge."
Naturally the two championship titles were her highlights — but the resilience from the team, and players who joined them, following the horror van crash in 2017 also came to mind.
With key cogs Jhaniele Fowler, Shannon Saunders, Wendy Frew and Te Paea Selby-Rickit sidelined from the accident, the tears fell when the Steel remarkably toppled the Mainland Tactix 51-46.
"That was a real emotional time for us all, but I was immensely proud of how everybody stood up in that game.
"It was tough on all of us, but we just went into it and we did it."
Being part of Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit’s and Saunders’ milestone games, and helping Frew retire on a high, wre also moments that brought a smile to her face.
"Those sorts of things really stick out for me.
"So do moments like seeing somebody like Ivari Christie make their debut.
"Those are the things that sort of bring me joy and give me happiness in my role, but I think I try and find something each week because I think if I don’t find that joy I probably shouldn’t be here."
She will be searching for that joy as the Steel aims for its first win of the season against the Tactix tomorrow.
